


A Very Merry Klancemas 2020

by Guestswithoutbags



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, But Really It's Just Fluff, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Some stories will have smut, christmas shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:20:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27815980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guestswithoutbags/pseuds/Guestswithoutbags
Summary: Klancemas 2020 (prompts by @MonthlyKlance on Twitter)Day 1 - Coffee ShopDay 2 - Snowed InDay 3 - Ice SkatingDay 4 - Wish ListDay 5 - SleepDay 6 - Hot CocoaDay 7 - FireplaceDay 8 - Christmas SongDay 9 - DecoratingDay 10 - SurpriseDay 11 - ComfyDay 12 - Cuffling For WarmthDay 13 - GingerbreadDay 14 - Double DateDay 15 - SleddingDay 16 - ColdDay 17 - Holidays in SpaceDay 18 - TreeDay 19 - Matching sweatersDay 20 - SunsetDay 21 - Snowball FightDay 22 - MistletoeDay 23 - MagicDay 24 - GiftsDay 25 - ChristmasDay 26 - FamilyDay 27 - MovieDay 28 - Winter SportDay 29 - PartyDay 30 - PeacefulDay 31 - Midnight
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 90





	1. Day 1 - Coffee Shop (Jingle All The Way - PART 1)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi y'all.
> 
> I'm attempting to do Klancemas this year. 
> 
> Each Chapter will have its own warning (Teen, Mature, Explicit etc) with a summary of what to expect in said chapter.
> 
> Some of the stories are single stories, others are two-parters or more.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 1 - COFFEE SHOP - JINGLE ALL THE WAY  
> //Rated Teen and Up//
> 
> Keith has promised his nephew that he will buy him the Super Space Ranger Jin action figure for Christmas. The only problem is that they're sold out EVERYWHERE. Realising he is going to break his nephew's heart come Christmas Day, Keith decides to drown his sorrows at the local Starbucks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today's story is part one of many. I would say it is for Teen and up audiences, as there is a lot of swearing in it - but would you expect anything less from me?
> 
> Enjoy.

Tis the season to be jolly, Keith reminds himself as some other idiot whose face might as well be welded to their phone screen barges into him.

He doesn’t even get a _‘sorry’_ from them as they look up and scowl at him, as though he’s the asshole here.

He’s having the fucking day from hell and cannot wait to get home so that he can pour himself a large gin and tonic.

It’s absolutely heaving in the shopping mall, and most people are acting like the apocalypse is about to happen – they’re scrambling desperately for items on their lists, not caring who gets hurt in the process, and Keith cannot quite believe that he’s one of them.

He had mocked his older brother, Shiro, relentlessly for being unnaturally organised. You see, Shiro had finished his shopping in October – _fucking_ _October._ Who the hell is thinking about Christmas in October? Not Keith, that’s for sure. He was too busy feeling his spooky oats to give a second thought to Christmas – that shit was two months away – he had plenty of time!

But then it was one month away…and now it’s two weeks away and… fuck.

He’s got nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

He promised his nephew he’d get him the new Space Ranger Jin action figure – it’s from some TV show about superheroes in space, fighting crime and warding off evil. The usual bollocks.

But what Keith didn’t know was that Super Space Heroes was popular…like really fucking popular – like on every kids' Christmas list kind of popular, and apparently, the dolls have been sold out for MONTHS. Like every doll. Not even just Jin – the main guy – even the fucking green goblin bad guy, Sploosh is nowhere to be found.

Shiro had tried to warn him – several times in fact, but Keith hadn’t listened – _I’ve got bags of time_ , he said. _There’s thousands of the fucking things_ , he said. _Chill the fuck out, Shiro!_ He said.

He should have listened.

They’re going for thousands on eBay despite only retailing at $39.99 and CNN so kindly informed him this morning that stores weren’t likely to get anymore in until after Christmas.

But it was fine because Keith had a colleague who had a brother who had a son who worked at the Toy Bin, and said son told his dad who told his brother who told Keith that they were getting in a super-secret delivery today of Super Space Hero dolls. Keith even knew what time the dolls would get there!

The only problem was that it was store policy not to hold any item during the Christmas period, meaning that Keith was going to have to visit hell on earth (The Altea Springtime Mall) to retrieve one.

But it was fine. Keith was prepared.

He briefed his secretary, blocked out the time in his diary _and_ stayed super late last night to get a head start on work. It was fine. Everything was fine….

…Until it wasn’t.

Keith was literally on his way out to finally get the bastard doll when the big boss decided to rock up and ruin everything.

He needed to bring the end of year stakeholder meeting that was scheduled for Friday forward to right that fucking second, as he and his family had booked a last-minute skiing holiday to Aspen.

Keith was absolutely livid but what could he do? This was his boss. The guy who owned the firm and paid his wages. So he had no choice but to put up and shut up, give him his best corporate grin and say, "Absolutely sir, no problem," as he put his coat back on the hanger and scrambled to get his presentation together.

Luckily for him, his secretary – _his fucking angel_ of a secretary, Lucy, knew of his dilemma and offered to go and get the doll for him.

Not only that but she also promised to bring him back one of the seasonal special hot chocolates from Starbucks that he loved so much.

Keith could have fucking kissed her.

He scribbled down the name of the doll, shoved way too much money into her hands and bid her good luck, before joining the rest of his team in the boardroom.

She had barely been gone twenty minutes when someone interrupted the stakeholders meeting, to inform them that Lucy had been hit by a bus and was currently in an ambulance on her way to the ER.

By the time Keith got to the Toy Bin, the shelves were empty and the traumatised staff were rocking in the corner.

So he’s up shit creek without a paddle or a Space Ranger Jin doll, and unless he wants to part with a few thousand dollars (he _really_ doesn’t), his nephew, Kobe, will be getting an IOU on Christmas day.

Keith’s phone rings and he reaches into his pocket to retrieve it. He winces when he sees who’s calling him.

“Hello?”

“Did you get it?” Shiro asks immediately and Keith picks up on the slight desperation of his voice.

If it isn’t enough that he will end up disappointing his nephew on Christmas day, he also has the added bonus of disappointing his brother – the father of Kobe, who actually trusted him with this simple task.

“Yeah,” Keith lies easily.

This was the 50th time Shiro had called him about the doll.

Shiro exhales with relief, “Thank god for that – the news said that they’re sold out _everywhere_.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

“And it’s all Kobe talks about.”

Keith lets out a small laugh. Of course, it is. Shiro and his husband, Adam, have bought Kobe the latest games console for Christmas but all he wants is a crappy doll.

Typical.

“It’s Buzz Lightyear all over again,” Shiro muses, taking Keith back to being nine years old and the euphoric feeling he felt when he tore the wrapping paper off and saw the Buzz Lightyear logo.

It's one of his fondest memories. He loved that doll. It went everywhere with him.

He later found out (many years later) that a teenage Shiro had waited in line for six hours to get it.

Fuck.

He has to get Kobe the doll.

He tells Shiro that he’ll call him later and makes a beeline for the Starbucks, where he hopes to drown his sorrows in one of the seasonal special hot chocolates.

Right now, it’s the only thing other than alcohol that will make him feel better.

It’s also the only thing that will help take the sting off being rinsed for the best part of $1000 for some plastic piece of shit.

But hey, you can’t put a price on happiness, right?

The line for Starbucks is long – so long that Keith thinks he probably could have stepped out of his apartment complex and immediately joined it.

The staff are rushed off their feet, and when Keith finally gets to the counter after waiting no less than a fucking month, the first words out of the employee’s mouth are, “We’re sold out of all the holiday drinks, just so you know.”

Keith wants to kill himself.

“Of course you are,” he says.

Could this day get any worse?

“In that case, can I get a soy—“

“--We’re out of soy too,” she says with absolutely no remorse.

It takes everything in Keith’s being not to burst into tears there and then. It’s the icing on top of a cake made out of shit. A cherry filled with glass shards on top of an ice cream sundae that’s already melted. The straw that didn’t just break the camel’s back but poked its eyes out too.

Jesus fucking Christ – can he catch a break!?

All he wanted – _all_ he wanted, was one of the seasonal special hot chocolates – was that really too much to ask?

Apparently, it was.

He wipes a defeated palm down his face, takes a deep breath and manages to utter out, “Okay,” before nodding at the girl who is looking at him like he’s fucking mental.

She probably thinks he’s about to commit murder over something so small as a hot chocolate - but the jokes on her because it’s also over a $40 sold-out doll.

He turns to walk away when he hears another voice calling out to him, “Hey, wait!”

Keith turns back around to see the most stunning guy he has ever seen in his life smiling sympathetically at him.

“Rough day?” The barrister/hottest guy to ever walk the face of the earth asks and Keith just gawks at him like a simpleton.

The other employee sighs obnoxiously as if she is used to hot guy commandeering her customers and rudely shouts for the next in line. Cute guy rolls his eyes and shimmies around her so that he can get closer to Keith.

“Christmas shopping will do that to you,” he shoots another sympathetic smile Keith’s way and Keith hopes to fuck that his nose doesn’t start bleeding.

He manages a sheepish nod, suddenly extremely embarrassed that hot guy saw him having a breakdown over a fucking hot chocolate.

“Hey, we’ve all been there, right? So are you lactose intolerant or is it like a health thing?” The guy - Lance – Keith sees on his name tag, asks.

“Lactose intolerant,” Keith confirms with a curious raise of his eyebrow.

So Lance was listening to him order…?

That's...interesting.

Lance smirks as though he knows what Keith is thinking, “You ever tried oat milk?”

Keith shakes his head.

“Oh, dude. It’s so much better than soy. I can make you a drink with that – what do you fancy?”

Keith nearly blurts out ‘you’ but stops himself before he can embarrass himself any further. He has a habit of falling for unobtainable straight guys and this wouldn’t be the first time Keith has mistaken friendliness for gayness. And let's be honest - getting rejected by a Starbucks barrister would really finish his day off nicely.

“Well you’re out of the holiday specials, right?” he asks, hoping that Lance’s kindness might extend to whipping out a hidden stash of seasonal special ingredients from under the counter.

“Uh-huh,” Lance nods in confirmation, “Which one were you wanting?”

“Um, the-- the hot chocolate.”

“Well, luckily for you,” Lance smiles flirtatiously, “I make an _amazing_ hot chocolate and it’s even better than the seasonal special.”

Keith bites his lip in an attempt to stop his own smile from spreading, “Is that right?”

The grin on Lance’s face grows even wider, “Oh. _Absolutely_.”

Okay so there’s friendly flirting and then there’s… whatever this is. 

“Okay then…” Keith nods with a flirtatious smirk of his own, “Sold.”

Lance rings Keith up and gets to work on his drink and Keith makes a point of putting an extra-generous tip in the jar. He forgot to specify that he wanted it to go, so when Lance presents him with a large mug of steaming hot liquid, he just goes with it, not wanting to ruin the moment between them.

“Thanks,” he says which earns him another flirty grin.

“Anytime -- ?”

“Keith.”

“Any time, Keith.”

For the first time that day, God seems to be on his side and a guy vacates a small table next to the window just as Keith turns to scan the room looking for a seat. He makes his way over, placing his mug down before taking his coat, scarf and gloves off. The chair is unbelievably comfy as he sits down and even though there’s a nagging feeling in his mind that he should really be checking up on Lucy, not casually lounging in a Starbucks, he can’t really bring himself to care.

He brings the mug to his lips, blowing softly at the steam and finally takes a taste of Lance’s special hot chocolate.

It’s orgasmic, probably the best hot chocolate Keith has ever had and he has drunk many a hot chocolate. His eyelids even flutter shut involuntarily – it's that good.

“Good?”

A voice makes Keith snap his eyes open, to see that Lance has come over to check on his work. 

Keith nearly swallows his own tongue. God, this boy is stunning.

“It’s amazing,” he admits, unable to stop himself from smiling again.

 _Jesus_ , reign it in.

“See, I told you. Better than the seasonal special.”

“So much better,” Keith agrees.

They’re both smiling at each other again and there’s this weird tension in the air - Keith wonders if Lance feels it too.

“So go on, what happened?” Lance asks.

“Mm?”

“Your rough day – what happened?”

Keith huffs out a laugh, “You heard of those Super Space Hero dolls?”

Lance nods as though he knows exactly where Keith is going with this, “You need Space Ranger Jin too, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Yeah… I promised my nephew I’d get him one for Christmas.”

“Same.”

“Apparently, they got a delivery at the Toy Bin this morning but I didn’t know and by the time I got there they were—“

“—Gone.” Keith finishes with a solemn nod.

“You too, huh?”

“Yep,” Keith nods again. He wants to go into detail, tell Lance everything - about Shiro warning him, the impromptu meeting his boss called, Lucy getting hit by a bus. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t want Lance to think less of him for choosing to sit in a Starbucks, drinking hot chocolate when he should really be at the hospital bringing flowers to his secretary.

“I better get back,” Lance says, looking at the line which is starting to grow again, “It was nice meeting you, Keith. Come back if you ever want to try another one of my specials.”

Keith practically combusts at the wink Lance leaves him with, turning bright red and feeling all kinds of flustered. Luckily, the steam from his hot chocolate covers for him and he somehow manages to say, “I will.” Lance grins at him one final time and struts back to the counter.

Keith looks out of the window to watch the snow falling gently from the black sky. He can see Lance’s reflection in the glass and catches him glancing over in his direction several times.

Keith smiles to himself.

He may not have gotten his nephew the doll and his secretary may be fighting for her life in hospital but Keith still can’t help but think that today wasn’t so bad after all.

He at least found some reason to be jolly.

**\-- To be continued --**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, let's all pretend that Keith popped a Lactaid to enjoy the hot chocolate. Don't @ me over the flawed plot.
> 
> The title for this is stolen from that film with Arnold Schwarzenegger because I am original.


	2. Day 2 - Snowed In (Mountain of Madness - PART 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 2 - SNOWED IN - MOUNTAIN OF MADNESS  
> //Rated Teen and Up//  
> Today's story is part one of three. It's for teens and up again due to my outstanding ability to use the 'f' word at least once a sentence.
> 
> Summary: The team are hit with an Avalanche and get split up - Keith and Lance take shelter in a cabin in the woods - ooooo
> 
> Dynamic: Enemies to Friends, kind of canon - they're Voltron Pilots in this story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I stole the title from the Simpsons episode where Homer and Mr Burns get stuck in that cabin due to an avalanche.

“I can’t see shit!” Lance calls out over the raging snow that whips past him in a bitter flurry.

They lost the others a while ago when the storm first hit and an avalanche had happened. They'd all had to go buck wild with their thrusters in an effort to get out of the way of the incoming destruction.

It was chaos. Absolute chaos.

Lance could barely see what was happening right in front of him, let alone keep an eye on his teammates.

But the guilt still sits heavy on his heart and he can't help but blame himself.

He doesn’t know where the others went or even if they got out of the way in time. All he knows is that he and Keith made it and are currently in the arse end of nowhere.

Their communication devices are shot and their lions aren’t responding either, leading Lance to believe that there’s a good chance that they too, are buried beneath a few feet of snow.

It’s getting dark and Lance is cold - bitterly so. Their suits, just like their lions, need to recharge and the intermittent beep Lance keeps hearing in his ear tells him that his hasn’t got much power left in it – he blames the excessive use of their thrusters. It will soon go into low power mode, turning off the regulated temperature and diverting what’s left of the power to the oxygen supply which would be fine if they weren’t currently in sub-zero temperatures.

They need to find shelter and fast.

They’re wading through the deep snow, unable to do anything else. Keith is raging on, like the leader he is, desperately searching for something close to civilisation.

“You see that!?” Keith calls out as loud as he can and Lance can vaguely make out that he’s pointing at something in the distance but as Lance said, he can’t see shit.

“No, I can’t see shit!” He yells again.

“It looks like a cabin!”

Lance wipes the visor of his helmet with a gloved hand and squints hard. All he can see is a cluster of trees but then again he isn’t part Galra and he doesn’t have the super-sensitive hearing or the vampire-quality eyesight that goes with it.

But Keith does.

So he follows him blindly. Practically swimming through the snow.

What should take less than a minute to reach, takes them almost ten due to the conditions which – _are they getting worse?_ Lance thinks they’re definitely getting worse if that’s possible. He’s exhausted, so when they finally do reach where Keith was pointing to, Lance is more than a little relieved to find out that it is, in fact, a cabin.

Well – he uses the term 'cabin' loosely – it’s more of a shack but it might as well be the Four Seasons at this point.

In any other situation, Lance would have run for the hills at the mere mention of a cabin in the woods. He’s seen enough scary movies to know that isolated, random shacks in the middle of a creepy forest are a no go… but they’re desperate - so even if they open the door and find the Blair Witch chilling in a corner, he’s going in.

He’s not at all surprised to find out that it’s locked but Keith, the reprobate that he is, makes light work of it with his bayard. The door swings open and Lance practically dives inside.

It’s pretty bare and not the standard of cabins Lance has grown accustomed to when he and his family go skiing. There’s a single bed in the corner with a ratty comforter, a small table and chairs in the middle, a couple of cupboards and countertops, resembling a kitchen, a few storage boxes scattered here and there, and a fireplace with some wooden logs stacked next to it.

But it’s better than nothing.

Keith closes the door and takes his helmet off.

“We’ll stay here until the storm clears,” he announces and Lance nods in confirmation, “Then we’ll try and find the others.”

Lance nods again and takes off his own helmet. The icy air hits his cheeks unpleasantly.

“It’s freezing,” he declares as if Keith isn’t aware of the obvious.

But Keith being Keith, just states the obvious right back at him, “Better than being out there.”

Lance can’t argue with that.

“Do you think they’re okay?”

“They have Shiro, they’ll be fine.”

“What about our lions?”

“I don’t know.”

Keith isn’t the best at making conversation and Lance already feels like he’s pulling teeth just to get those few words out of him, so he stops asking questions and goes to sit in one of the chairs.

They’re silent for a while. Keith stands at the counter, looking out of the window to watch the storm rage on.

It’s times like these that Lance wishes he had his phone to entertain himself with but that’s a fucking pipe dream – his battery died about an hour into space and even if Pidge did work out a way to charge it again, he can’t imagine his network gets reception 12 galaxies over or if the Castle of Lions has a sterling WiFi connection.

So he sits and stares and bounces his leg without realising he’s doing it.

“Could you stop doing that?” Keith asks irritably.

Lance squints at him in confusion before realising that his bouncing leg is making the table vibrate and create a low thudding noise.

It’s probably really annoying.

“Oh. Sorry.”

He makes an effort to stop his leg and goes back to staring at nothing in particular.

“Lance!” Keith scolds again barely a minute later and Lance realises he’s replaced his bouncing leg with tapping his fingers on the table.

“Shit. Sorry – I don’t know I’m doing it.”

“You never do,” Keith spits.

Lance places his hands onto his lap and makes a conscious effort of trying not to move at all. He wonders if he is allowed to breathe or will Keith find a problem with that too?

He doesn’t do well with silence - he came from a big family and is used to constant noise. At the Garrison, he shared a dorm with 5 other guys, and even on the castle, there’s always someone talking – okay so it’s either him or Coran but that’s beside the point.

Of all the people he could get stuck with, it had to be Keith, didn’t it?

Keith, the moody, silent, lone wolf.

It goes without saying that Keith and Lance don’t have the best relationship and more often than not, Shiro makes a poorly masked effort at keeping them apart.

Because when they’re together, the shit just seems to hit the fan.

They argue incessantly.

About everything and nothing.

If Lance says something is black, Keith will swear it’s white. If Lance thinks they should go left, Keith will insist they go right. And even if Keith knows, _knows_ , Lance is right about something, he will disagree because god forbid, he gives Lance _anything_.

It’s fucking infuriating and gets to Lance more than he cares to admit.

So he bites back every single time without fail because fuck Keith.

Honestly. Fuck him.

The funny thing about the whole thing is that Lance actually looked up to Keith once upon a time. When they were still at the Garrison and Keith, the child prodigy that he was, blew everyone away with his flight skills.

Everyone but _especially_ Lance.

He was starstruck, completely in awe of the boy and so desperately wanted to be his friend.

Unfortunately for him, the feeling wasn’t mutual.

It still stings Lance to think about it.

When Keith got kicked out of the Garrison a few months later, Lance thought he deserved it.

And when they rescued Shiro together and Keith didn’t remember who he was, Lance was done.

He doesn’t try anymore. At least, he doesn’t try to impress him anymore.

They’re friends by proxy, forced to get along for the sake of the universe.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

“I’m bored,” he announces but Keith doesn’t reply, still looking out the window as if mesmerised by the blizzard.

Lance sighs loudly and gets to his feet, deciding to root through the cupboards and boxes, hoping that he might get lucky and happen upon the alien equivalent of Connect 4 or something.

He’s not at all surprised to find that they’re mostly empty; save for a few knick-knacks that Lara Croft would probably find a use for. However, in one box, he hits the jackpot.

“Score!” He shouts and Keith turns his head just in time for Lance to produce the pack of playing cards he’s discovered…Well, they’re not standard earth cards or anything but they’re cards with different pictures on and let’s be honest, it’s better than a kick in the shins at this point.

“What are those?” Keith asks.

“I think they’re like playing cards?”

“Oh.”

“You wanna play?”

“No.”

Brilliant. Fucking brilliant.

Lance rolls his eyes as Keith goes back to his staring and decides to make a house of cards instead, seen as though Keith, captain of the fun police won’t indulge him.

It’s a while before either of them speak again but it’s Keith who breaks the silence with a sudden announcement: “It’s getting worse,” he says.

“Impossible,” Lance mumbles in reply, too busy concentrating very hard on keeping his hands steady as he meticulously stacks the cards.

“Do you hear that?” Keith asks suddenly and Lance rolls his eyes again. Yes, he can hear the wind howling. There's a bloody blizzard going on, what does Keith expect?

“Hear what?” he asks half-heartedly to humour Keith but he's not really paying attention.

_“That.”_

“Dude, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“The rumbling?!” 

Lance continues to stack his cards, “Keith, buddy, we’ve only been stuck in this shack for about an hour, you can’t already be losing it.”

“No, Lance, seriously.”

Lance looks up to see that Keith is staring at him wide-eyed in fear. He furrows his brows wondering if this is Keith’s way of joking with him - Like is he trying to announce a fart or something?

It’s then that Lance hears it.

And it’s not a fart.

It’s…

It’s…

It starts off as a low rumble – barely even there. Lance holds his breath to listen to it – he’s heard that sound before.

It hits him like a wet kipper to the face and he snaps his head up to look at Keith, matching his scared expression.

Another avalanche.

“Shit!” He shouts just as the table starts to shake and his house of cards comes crashing down. “Shit!”

The cabin is shaking violently now – the cupboard doors have flown open, the unoccupied chairs come crashing down and the rest of the items start careering across the floor, as the rumbling sound gets louder and louder as the avalanche rapidly approaches.

They can’t do anything. It’s not like they could outrun if they tried. Leaving the cabin now would be suicidal.

So they stare at each other, frozen with fear and unable to move. But even if they could move, where would they go?

The sudden sound of the snow washing over the cabin like a tidal wave hits them and Keith has to grab onto the counter to stop himself from falling.

Then they’re plunged into darkness.

****To be continued****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of these stories are really good, the rest go nowhere and I don't exactly know how to finish them lol
> 
> But oh well, life goes on.


	3. Day 3 - Ice Skatings (Falling in a Winter Wonderland)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 3 - ICE SKATING - FALLING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND  
> //Rated Teen and Up//
> 
> Keith thought ice skating would be easy peasy lemon squeezy.
> 
> Turns out it's not. It's difficult difficult lemon difficult.
> 
> Tags: Pining Keith, Unrequited infatuation, Ice Skater Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope I can keep this up...

Keith fucking hates _this._

HATES IT!

 _WHO_ in their right fucking mind thought that inventing a shoe with knives glued onto the bottom to balance on frozen fucking water would be a good idea?

Who?

_WHO!?_

An asshole that’s who, Keith thinks bitterly, as he clings to the side of the wall when another wobble makes his heart practically fall out of his butt.

He’s decked it at least seven times and embarrassed himself no less than twelve.

Because not only has he fallen spectacularly and painfully (he is convinced his ass _is_ broken) but he’s also had a series of ‘almost falls’ that are probably worse than the act of falling itself because they involve a lot of arm flailing, a lot of shrieking and a lot of panic-induced expressions on his part which is so _off-brand_ for him.

Keith is cool. Keith is calm. Keith is collected.

He is light on his feet, co-ordinated and agile.

He does not flail, he does not shriek and he most certainly _does not_ panic.

Why? _Why_ did he come here?

At that thought, Keith hears the voice that makes his heart sing and his nerves dance, and he looks up just in time to see Lance land a perfect pirouette and then giggle shyly when Allura compliments him.

_Lance._

That’s why he’s here.

It’s pathetic really. Having a crush on your straight friend and doing anything you can just to be near them. Just to hear their laugh and catch a glimpse of their smile. Agreeing to things you can't do because you want, so desperately, for the fantasy in your head to become a reality, even though you know that they like someone else and there’s absolutely no fucking chance in hell of anything ever happening.

But still… here he is…in hell. Searching for that chance.

It's honestly just pathetic.

Keith really didn’t think things through. He thought ice skating would be like riding a bike – and it is…in a way. You know, if the bike had no wheels and someone set it on fire just before you got on it and then shot you in the face.

 _Why_ did he think this was a good idea?

Lance probably thinks he looks ridiculous.

He’s probably had a good laugh watching him with the rest of the group _and_ everyone else in the ice rink, including the kids that sailed past Keith easily, with their fucking lower centre of gravity advantage, cackling at him in that cruel, obvious way that only kids can get away with.

It's humiliating.

Keith scowls and grips the wall harder, continuing with his shuffle around the rink. He doesn't hear Lance approaching because unlike Keith, Lance (and everyone else on the ice) knows how to ice skate.

“Having fun?” Lance says with a smirk. 

“Fuck off,” Keith bites back instantly, he would flip Lance off too but he can’t afford to take either of his hands off the wall.

Usually, Keith would try and flirt with Lance – well, his version of flirting at least - you know, not immediately bursting into flames just because Lance has looked his way and scowling 30% less than he usually would.

Flirting.

“Need some help?” Lance asks, trying and failing to drop the smirk on his face.

“I’m fine,” Keith grits out and continues shuffling. He paid $20 to rent these god damn skates and they have another twenty minutes left before they have to get off the ice, and he will be damned if he lets the fucking knife shoes and frozen water get the best of him.

“Keith, you’re not fine,” Lance says teasingly whilst gliding effortlessly next to him.

Lance looks like Yuri on Ice. He can do tricks and shit and he hasn’t fallen once.

Keith looks like Bambi on Ice. He can’t do fuck all.

The rest of the group skates past like clockwork, stopping briefly to ask Keith if he’s okay _again_ , as though they’re surprised that he hasn’t suddenly become a champion figure skater in the thirty seconds it took them to do a lap.

Lance waves them off and tells them he’s got it covered. They smile sympathetically before skating off again and Keith doesn’t know if the smile is directed at him for his struggles or at Lance for being burdened with him.

He thinks it's the latter...

Allura glides away elegantly and Keith doesn’t miss how Lance’s eyes follow her. You would think that Keith would be used to seeing Lance pining over someone else by now but no. It still hurts him. Every. Single. Time.

“I don’t know why I came here,” Keith admits dejectedly.

It was stupid, _really_ stupid of Keith to think that this would go how it did in his head – you know - skating gracefully, impressing Lance, cracking a few jokes, making Lance laugh… with him, not at him, actually having fun…

“Come on, I’ll hold you.”

Keith snaps his head up to look at Lance with a cocked brow, “I beg your pardon?”

He wonders if he has fallen and hit his head and is currently dreaming because he thinks Lance McClain just offered to hold him.

Before he can have a complete breakdown about it and file the memory away in _‘things to wank off to later’,_ Lance suddenly and without warning makes a grab for his waist and says, “Here, let me show you,” and Keith flinches so hard he whacks his knee on the wall.

“Fuck,” he groans and mentally adds a knee to his Amazon wish lists of body parts that need replacing.

“Why did you flinch?” Lance asks incredulously, like he isn’t aware that he just rocked Keith’s entire world with a simple touch.

“Because you touched me!” comes Keith's instant reply.

Lance stares at him blankly for a few seconds, letting what Keith just said out loud sink in for the both of them.

It’s ambiguous – ‘Because you touched me’ could mean a variety of things like, ‘ _You know that I hate being touched’_ or ‘ _You scared me’._ It’s not like Lance will automatically assume it’s because Keith is madly in love with him and even the thought of Lance touching him has Keith popping a boner.

His hips are still tingling from where Lance’s fingers had momentarily grazed his skin through his thick coat.

Christ, he needs to get a grip.

“I mean…I’m…like ticklish there, so…” Keith recovers, blushing profusely.

Lance smiles, “I never knew that about you.”

Keith nods once and looks away, not wanting Lance to see him so flustered.

He’s not ticklish.

At all.

Well, he might be – he doesn’t really know because no one has ever fucking touched him. All he knows is that he wasn’t prepared for his crush, Lance McClain – the boy who he fantasises about on a daily basis and the reason why he’s stayed single for so long, to put his hands on his waist.

“Can I?” Lance asks gently, his hands hovering close but hesitant, this time warning Keith that contact is coming.

Keith nods timidly but still flinches slightly as Lance’s hands touch his waist. The small action makes his heart thrum wildly in his chest and his legs turn to jelly. He’s suddenly very warm – despite it being in the middle of December, and despite being literally on ice.

He feels like he’s on fire.

“Okay, now stand up and let go of the wall.”

“I can’t,” Keith protests meekly. He’s still gripping onto the wall like his life depends on it.

Nothing could make him let go.

Nothing.

“You can. You can hold on to me.”

Except for…you know, _that._

Lance McClain, his crush, the boy that guest stars in every one of Keith’s filthy, _filthy_ fantasies, is inviting Keith to touch him.

 _Well_ , Keith thinks, _you don’t have to tell me twice._

He quickly lets go of the wall and scrambles to grab onto Lance. And boy, does he grab. He practically flings himself at him, like a damsel in distress, wrapping both of his arms around Lance’s torso and pulling himself in tight like a baby koala.

He thinks he might have gone too far, thinks that Lance might be onto him and his ulterior motive, but Lance just laughs a cute little laugh as though he finds it endearing and steadies them both, holding Keith’s waist firmly.

Keith inhales deeply.

He smells fucking amazing.

“You okay?” Lance asks and – shit.

They’re practically nose to nose.

Keith nods dumbly and tries his best not to get lost in Lance’s eyes which are even prettier up close.

This is another thing he really didn’t think through.

“Okay,” Lance smiles, “Here we go.”

He gently starts to glide them both across the ice and Keith’s grip tightens, not entirely trusting Lance not to let go and leave him in the centre of the rink or something, because that is something Lance would definitely do.

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Lance reassures him gently and Keith tries to enjoy the moment but the memory of falling and the feelings that go with it makes it really hard to trust that the knife shoes and the frozen water won’t somehow fuck him over again.

It isn’t until their third lap around the rink that Keith begins to relax and starts to actually enjoy the fact that he’s in Lance’s arms, skating around an ice-rink as Christmas tunes play softly in the background and other couples skate past hand in hand.

It’s terribly romantic.

The rest of the group lap them a fair few times, making jokes at Keith’s expense and teasing Lance wickedly for how they look together.

But Lance doesn’t seem to care and as much as Keith knows he should be a little bit bothered by it, after all, his pride is at stake here, he can’t bring himself to care either.

This has got to be one of the best moments of his life.

It’s not long before one of the workers – a teenage girl who looks like she wants to kill herself, comes skating onto the ice to ruin everything. She tells them all that it’s time to get off and Keith has to resist the urge to shank her with his skates. 

Lance glides him to the exit, never letting him go and Keith tries not to show how utterly disappointed he is that it’s over. He finally lets go of Lance when they're off the ice and there is no danger of him decking it again but Lance still hovers to make sure that Keith's okay, as they trudge over to the benches.

Keith wants to cry.

They sit next to each other on a bench to take their skates off. The rest of the group are a few benches along, engrossed in their own conversations.

"Thank you for not letting me fall," Keith says, wanting to cling onto the moment.

Lance flashes him one of his signature smiles and Keith almost goes into cardiac arrest, "No problem," he says, unlacing one of his boots, "Next time, I think you might be able to do it just by holding my hand."

Keith nearly falls off the bench.

“Next time?” he utters in disbelief.

Holy shit, _next time!?_

“Yeah! You’re not giving up already are you?” Lance teases with another wide grin that knocks the wind right out of Keith.

“No,” he manages to say after pausing just a bit too long – he was busy indulging in the mental image of him and Lance skating hand in hand.

“Good,” Lance grins again, unlacing his other boot, “Because I love ice skating.”

Keith knows it doesn’t mean what he so desperately wants it to mean.

He knows that Lance doesn’t like him _like that_.

He knows that Lance is just being his usual friendly self.

And he knows that Lance just means that he wants to come here again – as a group.

But none of that matters because to Keith, it means the world.

He smiles back at Lance, “Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some feel-good pining Keith for your soul.
> 
> I'm in a really crappy time zone - 8 hours ahead of the UK and 13 hours ahead of New York... sod it. Imma start posting at 1pm here.


	4. Day 4 - Wish List (Jingle All The Way PART 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 4 - WISH LIST - JINGLE ALL THE WAY (PART 2)  
> //Rated Teen and Up//
> 
> Summary: Keith gets shafted on Facebook but Lance may have a solution.
> 
> Dynamic: CEO Keith, Coffee Shop Barrister Lance

[ **CLICK HERE FOR PART 1** ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27815980/chapters/68098528)

It’s not going well.

Life, that is.

At least, not at the moment – not for Keith, anyway.

For starters, he stupidly trusted Facebook market place.

Don’t ask him why, please, because he doesn’t even know himself.

All he knows is that there was a Space Ranger Jin doll posted and it was going for significantly less than what they were going for on eBay and he stupidly pay-palled the guy without checking his profile first and now he’s $600 dollars down and he _still_ doesn’t have the fucking doll.

Yeah – the guy made a burner profile, took his money and ran.

Keith should have known better. Who has a basic red Ferrari as a profile picture anyway? You know, other than scammers and middle-aged men who don’t quite know how to work Facebook and share posts about lost dogs in other countries.

Fuck.

He’s an idiot.

He’s also crazily busy at work and he doesn’t have his secretary to help him out because she is currently holed up in the hospital with a broken neck and a shattered pelvis, which he can’t help but feel partially responsible for.

Okay, so it definitely _was_ his fault. Not that he was driving the bus that hit her or anything but it was because of him that she’d ventured out in the first place on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Had he not been so desperate to get his hands on one of the dolls, Lucy would have stayed at the office, not gone to the Altea Springtime Mall and therefore, never would have been hit by the 219 bus….so yeah…it’s kinda/definitely his fault.

When Keith visited Lucy in the hospital, he was surprised to learn that she had actually managed to get her hands on one of the Space Ranger Jin dolls before her accident. She was one of the lucky few who grabbed one before people even knew what was happening. However, as soon as the cat was out of the bag- chaos ensued. She likened it to the scene in the Lion King with Simba in the gorge and regaled the tale to Keith of desperate parents, crazy offers and a literal fight for her life. An elderly woman had even tried to trip her up with her cane as Lucy attempted to escape. She had no choice but to flee from the angry crowd and she was that desperate to get the doll back to Keith, that she stepped out into the road without thinking.

Unfortunately, as it’s Keith’s life when the bus hit her, she dropped the doll (why wouldn’t she?) and it just so happened to fall right in front of one of the oncoming wheels of the bus…

When she held up what remained of the doll from her hospital bed, Keith didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

It was mangled beyond recognition.

But Keith had to smile and tell Lucy that it wasn’t her fault and that it was just a doll, and the most important thing was that she get herself better. She would be on full pay, of course, and any rehabilitation she needed would be covered by the company.

He told her to make sure she was fully healed before returning to work and to keep him updated on her progress.

What he really wanted to do was to scream in her face, call her an idiot and tell her that it _was_ her fault - who fucking steps out onto a main road without looking both ways!? You get taught that shit in kindergarten for fuck’s sake! He also wanted to selfishly ask how long she thought it would be before she would be back in the office because he was drowning and he didn’t realise just how much he relied on Lucy until she wasn’t there any more.

Of course, he didn’t say any of this. He just gave her another smile, bid her farewell and kicked the vending machine as hard as he could on his way out of the hospital.

*

It’s been a particularly shitty day at work. It’s the busiest time of the year and Keith is extra stressed as he is in charge of his own diary and filing and photocopying and avoiding marketing calls and getting his own coffee and finding the time to go out and grab some lunch and – basically everything Lucy does for him.

The office is going to be shut for ten days over Christmas and New Year which, yeah, it's amazing as it sounds but it also means that Keith has to make sure that everything is done in time for when he clocks off on December 23rd.

And there's a lot of shit he still has to do...

And he still doesn’t have the doll.

When he finally finishes work, it’s just gone 8pm. He’s exhausted and starving – a horrible combination to be.

His office is situated right next to the Altea Springtime Mall which, as Christmas is only days away, is open late, every night. There’s a decent food court in there and although Keith tries his best to stay healthy, he is way past the point of caring what he puts in his body tonight – just as long as it’s _something_ and it’s something soon.

It’s unsurprisingly still busy – not as heaving as it was the last time Keith was in here but still, there are enough people for Keith to feel slightly better about not having bought anything on his Christmas list. He still has time and Amazon Prime…so…

He’s on a mission to get to the food court as quickly as possible when he smells the familiar delicate scent of coffee. His head instinctively turns to look at the Starbucks and he stops suddenly.

“ASSHOLE!” comes a voice from behind him and Keith realises that he just jammed on the breaks in a heaving hallway causing several people that were walking directly behind him to swerve out of the way.

He fucking hates it when people do that to him but he doesn’t even get a chance to apologise, as the irritated shoppers are already ten steps away from him, clearly on a manic mission.

He makes sure that he doesn't piss off any more shoppers before changing his course of direction and heading for the Starbucks – they sell food, after all, right?

Right?

It definitely _is not_ because there is an extremely attractive barrister that works there.

Definitely not.

When he gets inside, Keith is pleased to see that it is nowhere near as busy as it was the last time he was in here. There are more than a couple of places to sit and only two people waiting at the counter.

He spots Lance immediately and his heart flutters at the sight of him. He hasn’t noticed Keith yet, probably too busy making one of his ‘specials’ for a customer.

Keith approaches the counter just as Lance calls out, “Peppermint Mocha for Dave?” and he realises the moment Lance recognises him. His eyes fall on Keith briefly before returning with a fixed stare, even as he hands the drink to the customer.

He saunters over with a small smirk, “Back again, I see.”

Keith nods, desperately holding back his own smirk.

Here we go again.

“You just got off work?” Lance asks, eyeing Keith up and down.

“Yeah,” Keith sighs tiredly.

“Ouch. Finance?”

“How do you--“

“--You look like you work in finance,” Lance laughs and Keith feels a bit self-conscious – he didn’t realise there was a ‘finance look’.

“Ridiculously expensive suit, paired with a ridiculously expensive overcoat and the shiniest black shoes I have ever seen in my life - and, let me guess the leather briefcase has your initials etched onto it somewhere? Come on, man?” Lance chuckles and Keith cannot believe how accurate his description is.

“I—the briefcase was a gift,” Keith concedes, blushing slightly.

“I bet it was,” Lance nods with a shit-eating grin. “So, Keith, what can I get for you today?”

“Oh – um – could I get,” Keith pretends to scan the menu but they both know what he came here for.

“You want another ‘special’ right?” Lance grins knowingly and Keith bites his lip again and nods.

“Awesome, I’ll get that right away. Anything else?”

“Oh, yeah,” Keith says, darting for the refrigerator. There’s a poor selection of sandwiches left but Keith doesn't care. He is at the point where he would even eat a scabby horse.

“I’d recommend the turkey and cranberry – people tend to avoid it but it’s soooo good.”

Keith looks up to see Lance leaning over the counter, invested in whatever Keith is selecting. He looks back at the sandwiches and is surprised to find that out of the ones that are left (the usual sad-looking tuna and egg options) he sees two turkey cranberry sandwiches, sealed in the Starbucks festive wrapping. He picks one up and hands it to Lance.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Keith smiles and Lance grins again, telling him he won’t regret it.

Lance rings him up and Keith pays, adding another generous tip in the jar.

When he gets his drink, he thanks Lance and goes over to the same table he sat at last time and gets comfy – removing his ‘ridiculously expensive’ overcoat, gloves and scarf, so that he’s sitting in his 'ridiculously-expensive' Armani suit. His leather briefcase complete with his initials etched into it sits by his feet.

Is he really that predictable?

He’s unwrapping his sandwich when he sees movement from the corner of his eye and looks up to see Lance, holding a huge mug and sitting in the seat opposite him,

“It’s my break. Mind if I join you?” He asks and Keith can’t help but smile at his boldness. 

“Sure.”

Lance puts his mug on the table and leans over, looking at something.

"What?" Keith asks as Lance lets out a small laugh.

"K.K? What, are you a Kardashian or something?" Lance muses and Keith realises he's checking out the initials on his briefcase.

"Oh um, no. I'd rather die. It's Kogane. Keith, um...Kogane."

"Well, one more K and you'd be in trouble, Mr Kogane." Lance giggles. He reaches for his mug and then sits back in the armchair.

Keith blushes and lets out an embarrassed laugh, "Yeah...I know."

“So, any luck with the doll?” Lance asks, blowing at the steam of his drink.

Keith shakes his head, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oof, what happened?”

“It’s a long and very boring story.”

“I got time,” Lance says with another blow of his drink, “Well actually, I have 20 minutes, so hurry up and try not to make it too boring.” He teases.

Keith smiles, takes a deep breath and launches into the story – the full story, warts and all. About Lucy, the mangled doll, Facebook marketplace. Everything.

“The worse thing about it is, she made sure that the paramedics picked up what was left of the doll, as if we could salvage it somehow…but it didn’t have a head?” Keith concludes and is pleased to see that Lance has actual tears in his eyes from laughing that hard.

“That’s amazing,” Lance says, wiping his eyes and laughing again, “Jesus, that’s incredible.”

Keith finds himself smiling at the situation too, it is pretty funny when he thinks about it.

“So not only did you almost kill your own secretary but you’re also down $600 and you _still_ don’t have the doll,” Lance smirks, “That’s quite remarkable.”

“Yeah, yeah, rub it in,” Keith replies and takes a sip of his drink – it’s just as good as last time, “Why? Why did my nephew have to put it on his fucking wish list?”

“I know, right?” Lance agrees, holding his mug close to his lips, “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t have the doll either.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t nearly kill someone or get scammed in the process.”

“That’s true,” Lance nods.

Keith sighs, “I’m an idiot. I’m going to have to just eBay it.”

“Or,” Lance counters, taking another sip of his drink and Keith cocks a curious brow at him, “What if I were to tell you, I know of a place that’s getting a shipment of dolls in…tomorrow?”

“You lie.”

“No.” Another sip.

“Really?” Keith asks, a little desperately.

“Really.” Lance nods seriously.

“Where…and when?!”

Lance looks around to make sure no one else is listening in and Keith is too invested to think of how ridiculous the situation actually is.

It’s a fucking doll.

“You know that little toy store on South Street?”

Keith squints his eyes and nods slowly in confirmation.

“Well, my dad knows the guy who runs it – he’s gone there for years, got all our toys from there and still gets them for my nieces and nephews. And well, they’re kinda friends because obviously, my dad’s been going there for over twenty years – anyway,” Lance waves, and Keith can tell he’s stopping himself from going down a rabbit hole, “He’s getting a small shipment in but wants the dolls to go to people that he knows won’t just stick them on eBay – he wants them to go to kids who actually want them and—well… I can tell you when the dolls will get there…if you want.”

Keith blinks at him for a while and doesn’t realise he’s practically sat on the edge of his seat, holding on to every one of Lance’s words.

“Oh my god, I love you,” Keith declares without thinking and Lance instantly blushes, looking embarrassed, “Shit, I just meant…” Keith flounders, realising what he just said, “Like…you’ve honestly saved my life.”

“I just…You said your nephew really wants one so…” Lance trails off, looking away from Keith.

“Lance – thank you, that’s…thank you,” Keith utters, beyond grateful at Lance’s kindness.

“Gotta spread that Christmas cheer, right?” Lance smiles shyly and Keith realises that he might have broken the boy with his reaction. 

“Thank you," he repeats again and watches as Lance squirms - he clearly can't handle gratitude.

“Yeah so…”

Lance gives Keith the details and Keith makes sure to set a reminder on his phone for it.

He cannot and will not miss this.

It's his last opportunity.

Kobe _will_ get that fucking doll.

Then Lance’s break is over and he bids Keith goodbye telling him that he might see him tomorrow.

Keith smiles and nods and in his head thinks _it's a date._

*****TO BE CONTINUED*****


	5. Day 5 - Sleep (Silent Night PART 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance's six-year-old daughter, Lily is too excited to sleep.
> 
> They've tried to put her to bed four times already but she keeps creeping downstairs.
> 
> It's Christmas Eve and it's late, and they still have to put out her presents and assemble the Barbie's Dream House 'Santa' has got for her.
> 
> So, drastic times call for drastic measures and they call on the help fo David Attenborough and his super soothing voice for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is pure fluff.
> 
> There's only a few swear words in, so again, I would say Teen and Up.

“I can’t sleep.”

This is the ninth time within four hours their six-year-old daughter, Lily, has made this statement to them.

They put her to bed at 7pm and it’s now 11pm and she’s still wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Keith and Lance, on the other hand, are exhausted. Mentally and physically.

Lily has been excited about Christmas since December 1st, when she opened the first door of her advent calendar and ate the tiny chocolate.

She’s been counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds ever since.

And driving them up the fucking wall in the process.

Because although she grasps the concept of her advent calendar, the days in a month and time itself, she is after all, only six years old.

But if Keith has to hear, “Is it Christmas yet?” one more time, he is going to kill himself.

Luckily, he doesn’t have to because it technically _is_ Christmas.

Well, it’s Christmas eve but when she asks him again he will be able to say, ‘Yes, darling. Yes, it is!’ and hopefully she will never ask him another question for as long as he lives.

They still have to put out all of her presents, assemble her Barbie’s Dream House AND get rid of the evidence they left for Santa and Rudolph.

They’ve agreed that Lance will eat the mince pie and drink the now room temperature milk and Keith will eat the carrot and attempt to make it look like a deer got to it.

Unfortunately, they’re not going to be able to do any of that until their little princess goes to sleep.

“Darling, Santa won’t come unless you’re asleep,” Keith says gently, as Lily climbs into his lap for the 10th time that night.

“What if I pretend?” She whispers, like she’s afraid Santa might be listening.

Keith shakes his head solemnly, “Nope, he’s magic. He will know.”

Lily mulls it over for a while and Keith’s heart melts a little at her innocence. He wants to squeeze her to death.

She’s their miracle baby. Equal parts him and Lance. Keith’s sperm, Lance’s twin sister, Rachel’s egg.

She looks more like Keith than Lance with her raven black hair and big violet eyes but Keith thinks she has Lance's nose and smile.

She's perfect and they absolutely adore her.

“But I can’t sleep,” she says exasperatedly.

“Tell you what, you can sit with me and Dad for a little bit, okay?”

“Okay,” she nods happily and snuggles into him.

Lance re-enters the room with a mug of hot chocolate for her. It’s littered with way too many marshmallows, a very generous amount of whipped cream and, of course, edible pink glitter. Keith rolls his eyes fondly.

“Here you go, princess,” Lance yawns, setting it down on the coffee table. He goes and sits on the adjacent sofa and Keith can tell that he’s battling to stay awake himself.

“Lily is going to stay up with us for a little bit,” Keith muses, giving Lance a knowing look.

“Is that so,” Lance says with a hint of a smirk, “Well, Lily, you’re just in time, we were about to watch an episode of Planet Earth.”

Lily wrinkles her nose in distaste and buries her face into Keith’s chest, “I don’t like Planet Earth,” she protests, voice muffled in Keith’s shirt.

Lance grins at Keith.

It’s a wicked trick they have whenever they need to get Lily to go to sleep – nature documentaries.

You see, Lily is far too young to appreciate the masterpiece that is David Attenborough and Planet Earth. She finds it too boring and barely makes it through 15 minutes before she is sound asleep.

It works every single time. Why they hadn’t thought about doing it earlier in the evening, Keith doesn’t know.

“Well, that’s too bad, honey. Because me and Daddy love it!”

Lily shoots him a scowl complete with an over the top pout and Keith bites back a chuckle. She already has traits of them both. Keith’s moodiness and Lance’s dramatics.

Lance lazily scrolls to an episode, blinking slowly and Keith watches on, worried that it might not be Lily who falls asleep first, this time.

They’re both past the point of being tired. December has been a bitch. Not only have they had the usual Christmas shit to put up with (shopping, making Lily a costume for her Christmas play, writing fifty Christmas cards for Lily’s classmates) on top of holding down full-time jobs, but they’ve also had the added bonus of partaking in ‘Elf on a Shelf’.

It was Lance’s idea (of course it was), and at first, he loved it and was really creative with it. He stole loads of ideas from online and spent the best part of two hours every night setting up the Elf for Lily to find the next day.

By the time they were midway through December, Lance asked Keith if it would be ethical to stick the fucking elf in a jar and tell Lily that he’s tested positive for the Coronavirus and would need to isolate for two weeks.

They haven’t had sex since the first week of December - too exhausted to do anything else but collapse onto each other, seconds away from slumber. Keith’s idea of dirty talk right now would be Lance whispering in his ear that they can have a lie-in tomorrow.

He keeps fantasising about December 26th, when the fantasy will become a reality and they will finally be able to sleep for as long as they want.

Just one more day.

But right now. Right now, they need to get Lily to bed so they can make this fucking Dream House and carry every present in from the garage where they’ve hidden them, and eat the stupid mince pie and carrot and drink the disgustingly warm milk.

Keith tries to do the math in his head. Lily usually wakes up at 6am, meaning if she falls asleep within the next half hour, and if they are quick with setting up her gifts, they will probably be in bed by 1am…so that’s…5 whole hours of sleep…

Eurghhhh.

He tries not to think how tired he will be tomorrow and focuses on David Attenborough’s soothing voice which is currently rimming on about crabs.

*

Keith wakes up with a jolt.

He looks at the clock on the wall and is horrified to see that it says 3am.

Fuck.

He fell asleep.

They all did.

Fuck.

Lily is still sprawled out across his chest sleeping soundly, despite Keith’s panicked awakening, and Lance is catching flies one sofa over.

The TV is currently displaying the mocking “Are you still watching Planet Earth?” message from Netflix and Keith silently curses David Attenborough and his stupidly soothing voice.

As gently as he possibly can, Keith peels himself away from the sofa, balancing Lily in his arms and carries her quietly to her room.

He tucks her in bed and leaves a feather-light kiss on her forehead before tiptoeing back downstairs and violently shaking Lance awake.

“Lance! Lance! Wake up!” He hisses.

Lance’s eyes peel open painfully slowly, “Time is it?” he asks drunkenly, trying to come around to his surroundings.

“3am,” Keith whispers urgently, “Come on, we gotta build the Dream House.”

Lance suddenly gets with the programme and he shakes his head, trying to dispel the tiredness.

“What happened?” he asks, widening his eyes and getting to his feet.

“We fell asleep,” Keith states obviously. They really don’t have time for this.

“Where’s Lily?”

“In bed.”

“Is she awake too?”

“Lance!” Keith hisses in annoyance, “We don’t have time for this! No, she’s not awake, she’s asleep but we have exactly three hours before she wakes up again and we need to work out how to assemble the dream house!”

“You didn’t watch the tutorial I sent you?!” Lance hisses his reply angrily.

“I – I was going to but then—“

“Oh for fuck’s sake Keith. It’s like the frigging Da Vinci Code too!”

Lance had sent him a link to the official Mattel ‘How to build Barbie’s Dream House’ video guide exactly two weeks ago.

That was Keith’s job. To watch it and to know what the hell they were doing when the time came.

Lance’s job was Elf on the Shelf and despite his pleas, Keith would not allow the elf to quarantine and so Lance had to come up with nine more shenanigans for the elf to get up to.

Keith definitely had the better end of the deal.

“We’ll figure it out,” Keith whispers, refusing to apologise even though he knows he’s in the wrong.

How hard can it be anyway? It’s a house…for dolls.

It takes them longer than Keith expects to bring in all of Lily’s gifts into the house. There’s a lot more than he remembers wrapping and he has the sneaking suspicion that Lance has added several more to the already humongous pile.

“She is so spoilt,” Keith whispers to Lance as they add the last couple of presents.

Lance smiles guiltily at Keith and Keith smiles right back. Lily has them both wrapped around her little finger and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Right,” Lance whispers but then claps his hands together loudly and Keith glares at him like he’s the biggest idiot going. Lance grimaces and mouths a ‘sorry’ back and then they both hold their breath looking up towards the ceiling. Luckily, it’s still silent, meaning Lily is still fast asleep. They both sigh in relief.

“Okay,” Lance tries again, “Let’s make this dream house!”

*****To be continued******

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all are enjoying it. I can't tell if you are or not?


	6. Day 6 - Hot Cocoa (Jingle All The Way - PART 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 6 - HOT COCOA - JINGLE ALL THE WAY (PART 3)  
> //Rated Mature//
> 
> Summary: Keith fucks it once again.
> 
> Dynamic: CEO Keith, Coffee Shop Barrister Lance

[**PART 1**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27815980/chapters/68098528) [**PART 2**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27815980/chapters/68250862)

Keith’s an idiot.

Scrap that.

Keith’s a _fucking_ idiot.

Okay, so just for the record, he knows. He knows he is an absolute moron, okay? He’s already well aware of that fact, thank you very much.

If he had just listened to Shiro in the first place and bought the fucking doll when the shelves were swimming with them, he wouldn’t be where he currently is now, standing empty-handed in the little toy shop on South Street, as the kind shop keeper looks at him with great pity.

He fucked it.

Royally.

He got here too late… _again_ \- two hours past the time Lance specified because, surprise, surprise, he got held up at work and now there’s no fucking chance in hell of him getting Kobe a Space Ranger Jin doll in time for Christmas, because even if – _even if_ he buys one from eBay and it turns out not to be a fucking scam, will it get posted in time? Will it arrive in time?

Knowing Keith’s luck, probably not.

Fuck.

This was his last chance.

His last chance to pull through as a brother and an uncle, and maybe score a date with an attractive barrister in the process.

But no.

Keith fucked everything.

As usual.

Jesus.

He runs a hand down his face in despair. It’s like fucking Ground Hog Day, isn’t it?

The shopkeeper tells him they sold out within minutes and that he’s really sorry.

Keith doesn’t deserve his apology or his pity because it’s entirely Keith’s fault.

He works in finance for fuck’s sake, not in the emergency room at a hospital.

Work could have waited.

But Keith….Keith is a jobsworthy bastard. He’s always the first to arrive and the last to leave. It’s the reason he’s shot up the ladder so quick, has his own cushy office and earns a six-figure salary, and why he gets to roam around in his ridiculously expensive overcoat, suit and shoes and has a personalised leather briefcase.

God, he makes himself sick.

“It’s not your fault,” Keith says to the owner with a small smile, “I should have been here on time.”

It’s another harsh reminder of all the other things he’s missed out on because of work - birthdays, umpteen family dinners, even weddings.

And for what?

So he can live a very extravagant but very lonely life?

It doesn’t seem worth it at all.

Keith leaves the toy store quickly and heads home with a heavy heart.

Guess Kobe will be getting an I.O.U this year after all.

*

A few days go by before Keith feels brave enough to face Lance. He knows that the first thing Lance is going to ask him is if he got the doll. He’ll probably be grinning from ear to ear as he asks and Keith will either have to lie or tell him the gut-wrenching truth - and he’s not sure which option is worse.

Lance, this amazingly kind stranger trusted Keith enough to share the tip of a lifetime and Keith just wasted it, like he wastes every good thing that comes his way.

But he wants to thank Lance, regardless. After all, it isn’t his fault either.

So Keith ventures into Starbucks. It’s much earlier than his previous visits, as he actually clocked off on time for once in his life.

The rest of his colleagues did a piss poor job at hiding their ‘surprise’ too, when he rose from his chair, dot on 5, coat already on and briefcase in hand. He’s pretty sure Carla from HR even fell out of her chair as he walked past.

But it’s a sight that they’re going to have to get used to.

He’s promised himself that his new year’s resolution will be to have a fucking life. Leave on time. Work the hours he’s paid to work.

As Shiro constantly reminds him, you work to live, not live to work.

When he walks into Starbucks, he’s greeted with that familiar comforting scent of coffee and his heart flutters with anticipation of seeing his favourite barrister.

He briefly scans the room, looking for Lance when he cannot spot him behind the counter, hoping that he might be wiping some tables down or restocking the nutmeg or something.

Alas, he isn’t.

Keith’s sighs to himself and reluctantly approaches the counter – he’s in danger of looking like a lurking weirdo if he stands at the entrance any longer.

He takes extra time scanning the menu – highly annoying to the barrister who is waiting to take his order – but Keith can’t help it. He’s still hoping that Lance might appear from the back room.

But he doesn’t.

So Keith has no choice but to place his order with the irritated barrister who looks like she wants to murder him. He still asks to sit in because a stupidly small part of him holds out hope that if he stays long enough, Lance will magically appear out of thin air.

It’s stupid.

He knows it’s stupid.

He sits at his usual seat and takes his phone out to idly scroll through social media, taking intermittent sips of his seasonal special hot chocolate which is nowhere near as good as the ones Lance makes.

He finds himself glancing up and over at the counter way too many times. Still hopeful but always disappointed to find that Lance isn’t there.

It’s not like Keith expected Lance to be here 24/7 or anything. Like Keith knows people have days off. It’s just – did Lance’s day off _have_ to be today?

His drink is nearly finished and Keith is trying to mentally prepare himself for the depressing subway ride home and the even more depressing evening that lies ahead of him. He’ll likely order some greasy take out before jerking off to some bad porn and finally falling asleep on the sofa to some crappy game show on TV,

It’s tragic.

But what’s even more tragic is the fact that _this_ , is all he had to look forward to -seeing a barrister he hardly knows for a brief interaction. Jesus, he’s really hit a new low--

“Hey there, Space Rader Jin!”

Keith snaps his head up to find Lance sans uniform leaning on top of the adjacent armchair and grinning at him.

Keith instantly flushes, willing away thoughts of orange chicken, egg fried rice and what category he’s going to choose on Porn Hub.

“Hey,” he manages to say, only slightly panicked.

Lance is wearing casual clothing, confirming Keith’s suspicions that it is, in fact, his day off. He has an enormous blue puffer jacket on with matching blue gloves, scarf and an adorable bobble hat. He’s also wearing a backpack and Keith wonders if Lance might still be a student.

“What brings you here?” Lance asks, still grinning, like he knows exactly why Keith is here.

“Fancied a special,” Keith smiles and Lance gasps in mock offence.

“I can’t _believe_ you would cheat on me,” he says, acting upset, “Who was it? Casey? That slut, Sarah? DAVID!?”

Keith laughs as the three barristers behind the counter (clearly Casey, Sarah and David) look over curiously.

“I think it was ‘that slut, Sarah’,” Keith confirms with a solemn nod of his head.

“That bitch,” Lance spits but he’s already grinning again.

He puts his bag on the floor, plonks himself down in the armchair and unzips his coat to reveal a blue sweater underneath.

“You like blue, huh?’ Keith states dumbly and immediately cringes. It’s been a while since he liked someone enough to try and flirt with them. He’s rusty and usually a lot better at chatting people up. He blames Lance’s unfairly good looks and out of this world smile for throwing him off his game.

Lance chuckles, removing his hat, scarf and gloves, “I’ve been told I look good in blue so…” He shrugs, leaving the rest unsaid.

Keith can’t argue with that. Lance does look good in blue but then again, Keith thinks he would look good in any colour… or without clothes for that matter.

He bites back a smile and nods in acknowledgement, “Is it your day off?” He asks, even though it so obviously _is_ Lance’s day off.

Like he said, he’s rusty.

“Uh-huh, I just came in to grab my paycheque – still gotta get a few last-minute gifts, ya know?”

Keith nods because yes, yes he does know. He is currently hoping that when he gets back to his apartment, there will be a large Amazon Prime delivery waiting for him with the concierge.

“Sooooo,” Lance drawls out and Keith braces himself for it – he knows exactly what’s coming. “Did you get it?”

Keith’s face instantly falls as he realises, as much as he wanted to lie to Lance, he just can’t.

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I…I got held up at work and by the time I got there, they had gone," Keith says sheepishly. It’s an apology more than an excuse.

“That sucks.”

“Yeah,” Keith agrees, “But thank you…for like the tip…I really…appreciate it.”

Lance waves his hand in a ‘don’t mention it’ kind of way and smiles sadly, “So what are you going to do?” he asks.

Keith looks down at what’s left of his drink and sighs, “I’m going to have to give him an I.O.U,” he says dejectedly. He cringes at the thought of Kobe opening an envelope, rather than a gift on Christmas Day, and Shiro looking on with disappointment, “God, even just saying it is depressing. He’s going to be crushed. Why did I mess this up? I should have listened to Shiro. I should have got to the toy store on time. Do you think I’m the worst uncle in the wor—“

Keith looks up at Lance and stops mid-sentence.

Because in Lance's hand is a Space Ranger Jin doll - an _actual_ Space Ranger Jin doll. And it isn't fake or mangled and it still has a head.

Keith just gawks at him open-mouthed, totally in shock.

“When you didn’t show up at the toy store, I figured you got held up or something,” Lance smiles shyly and extends the box to Keith, “Jerry, the owner, let me buy an extra one after I told him your story. I um...I asked him not to tell you if you went in because I wanted it to be a surprise,” he smiles again and jostles the doll slightly for Keith to take, "So...um...surprise?"

Keith accepts the box and pulls it slowly into his lap, looking at it like it’s the Holy Grail.

Space Ranger Jin smiles back up at him and Keith now understands why Kobe wants it so much. He looks so cool in his white and red spacesuit, and he even comes with a flashing ray gun and jet pack. It reminds Keith of his Buzz Lightyear.

Kobe is going to love it.

“You…you did this for me?” he says in disbelief, still staring down at the doll.

The doll which has cost him sleepless nights, $600 and a secretary.

“Is it weird? It’s weird, isn’t it? Oh god, I’m sorry. I just…Look, I know how much my nephew talks about the doll and how much he wants one and if your nephew is anything like mine then I know he’ll be heartbroken if he doesn’t get one on Christmas Day. God, please don’t think I’m a creep or anything, I just… I just…you know it’s Christmas. Season of goodwill to all men and all that jazz and—“

Lance is rambling, Keith tears his eyes away from the doll to look up at him.

“--I just wanted to do something nice for you. You seem like a nice guy. I promise I don’t want anything out of this. I mean like I was hoping we could... but you know it really doesn't - and you don't have to and I…oh god,” Lance puts his head in his hands and Keith realises he hasn’t heard a word of what Lance has just said to him or spoken for about five minutes and Lance is probably panicking.

“Lance,” he calls out and is relieved when Lance reluctantly peeks at him from behind his fingers, “I don’t know how to…” He pauses to lick his lips. God, he feels like he could cry, “Thank you. This… is…thank you.

Lance deflates immediately and pulls his hands away from his face, “Oh, thank god! I thought you thought I was a freak or something.”

“Why would I think that?”

“I dunno?” He shrugs, “Maybe because I’ve served you hot chocolate like twice and now I’m buying you dolls.”

Keith is surprised at the laugh that escapes his chest.

“I mean, when you put it like that,” he says and pulls a face that makes Lance laugh too. “No, but seriously, Lance. This is…I don’t know how to thank you.”

Lance beams at him and Keith feels like he’s on top of the world.

"Wait," Keith says and cocks a curious brow at Lance, "What would you have done if I hadn't come in here again?"

Lance snorts, "Come on, Keith. I know you can't resist my specials."

Keith laughs, "Yeah, that's fair."

"Plus, it's not like you're hard to find, Mr C.E.O. of Chase and Jackson."

Keith narrows his eyes, "How did you--"

"Google," Lance confirms with a cheeky grin, "Nice photo by the way. _Very_ corporate."

Keith blushes at the thought of Lance seeing that god awful photo on his company's website under the 'our people' tab.

They had made Keith smile.

They had made Keith smile _with his teeth._

Not only that but they had also made him cross his arms and cock his hip out and Keith has never really recovered from it.

"You saw that, huh?" he says bashfully and Lance nods, grinning from ear to ear.

Keith looks away to try and hide the blush he knows is forming on his cheeks. “How much do I owe you?” he asks, already reaching inside his coat for his wallet.

“Oh um…don’t worry about it,” Lance waves his hand, “I thought that maybe—“

“--Absolutely not,” Keith shakes his head, “How much?”

He knows the doll retails at $39.99 but he doesn’t want to assume that’s how much Lance paid for it. After all, it’s the number one toy for Christmas - stores could have charged anything they wanted for them. 

“Oh um…like forty bucks but honestly, Keith it’s fine. I was actually going to ask—“

“--Here,” he says, shoving the money into Lance’s hand and closing Lance’s fist around it.

Lance looks at him for a moment before sighing in defeat, "Honestly Keith, you really didn't have to, I just--JESUS CHRIST!" He shouts and Keith flinches in his chair at the sudden change in volume. “Keith, this is $500!”

Keith looks at him blankly and says, “Yes?” in a 'what's the problem?' kind of way.

“Keith, you are not giving me $500 for a doll.”

“I’m not."

Lance furrows his brows at Keith, clearly confused.

"I’m giving you $40 for the doll and $460 as a tip.”

“A tip?”

Keith nods, “Yep. For the best hot chocolates I have ever had in my life.”

A blush rapidly appears on Lance's dark skin, “Keith, I can’t…I can’t accept this.”

“Yes, you can. I would have ended up paying more than that for a doll off eBay anyway. You’ve saved my life, Lance.”

“It’s too much.”

“I don't think it's enough."

“I can’t—“

“—Look, Lance,” Keith cuts off any more protests, “You can either accept the money or I leave it on the table for Casey, David or ‘that slut’ Sarah to find. It’s up to you.”

Lance scoffs at the thought and reluctantly shoves the money into his pocket.

“Thank you,” he says, clearly embarrassed. The blush has extended to his ears. Keith thinks it's adorable.

“No, Lance. Thank you… this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Keith says in earnest.

Lance squirms in his seat and looks down at the floor.

“Honestly, don’t mention it.” He mumbles.

An awkward silence descends over them and Lance keeps glancing at him like he expects Keith to say something else but Keith is at a loss of what to say other than thank you a million more times and he’s pretty sure that any more ‘thank yous’ would finish Lance off for good.

What he really wants to do is to ask Lance out...on a date or at least get his number. But his heart is in his mouth and he can't bring himself to speak.

He's overwhelmed.

Well and truly.

“Okay, well. Um. I better get going," Lance says awkwardly, getting to his feet, "Still have lots more shopping to do."

“Oh,” Keith replies in surprise and fails to hide his disappointment, “Yeah, okay.”

He doesn't know what he was expecting but the thought of Lance leaving makes him sad.

“It was good seeing you, Keith,” Lance says, zipping his coat back up and picking his backpack up from the floor, “I hope your nephew enjoys the doll.”

He shoves his hat back on and stuffs his gloves into his other pocket, “And I hope you have a good Christmas,” he smiles shyly, still red from what Keith can only assume is embarrassment.

“Yeah, you too, Lance,” Keith nods reluctantly. He's at war with himself in his head to try and find a way to prolong the conversation.

Should he ask to join him shopping? Follow him and pretend he's going the same way or something?

Before Keith can decide on a concrete plan, Lance smiles again and says 'See you' and Keith watches with an immense feeling of disappointment as he begins to walk away.

“Wait!” he blurts out and Lance freezes, holding onto the straps of his backpack.

Keith is up and out of his seat, still clutching the Space Ranger Jin doll before he can really decide if it’s a good idea or not. 

Lance turns around just as Keith gets to him.

“Yeah?” he asks and Keith falters, feeling his cheeks heating up, matching Lance's blush. He’s aware that Casey, David and ‘that slut’ Sarah are staring at them both, watching the show.

“CanIhaveyournumber,” he rushes out and prays to God that he’s right about Lance. That they have been flirting this whole time and that Lance _is_ interested in him.

Lance stares at him blankly and Keith feels like he's about to die of embarrassment.

He's got it wrong.

Fuck. He's got it wrong!

Abort! Abort!

But then a smile starts to slowly spread across Lance's face.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

****To be continued****


	7. Day 7 - Fireplace (Mountain of Madness - PART 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 2 - SNOWED IN - MOUNTAIN OF MADNESS (PART 2)  
> //Rated Teen and Up//
> 
> Summary: Keith tries to start a fire, Lance tries to tell him it's not a good idea.
> 
> Dynamic: Enemies to Friends...maybe even hinted at something more, I dunno, I'm not a doctor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to say a big thank you to anyone who is reading this. I hope you are enjoying it.

**[ PART 1 ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27815980/chapters/68144803) **

“What are you doing?” Lance asks.

He’s watching Keith kneeling in front of the fireplace, smashing two rocks together over and over and over again.

He’s been at it for a while now. Well over an hour and all of Lance’s protests have fallen on deaf ears.

They somehow managed to survive another avalanche thanks to the shelter provided by the cabin in the woods that Keith found.

Although, they can’t exactly call it a cabin anymore.

When the avalanche hit, Lance stupidly assumed that they would be safe inside. That the rickety wood would withstand a tsunami of snow.

How wrong he had been.

Within seconds one of the walls had broken off and a tidal wave of snow came crashing inside as the cabin was carried off to god knows where. If it wasn’t for Keith yanking him back and holding onto him for dear life, Lance would have been swept away with the table and chairs he was sitting on.

Of course, Keith let him go as soon as he could.

When the dust had settled and they were left with barely even half a cabin, amazed that they had pulled through yet again.

All that remains is the pathetic fireplace, a ceiling that’s about to cave in and the bed in the corner with the ratty comforter.

They have about 3 metres of floor space in total; the rest has been covered in snow.

“What the fuck does it _look_ like I’m doing, genius?!” Keith bites back viscously and continues to crack the rocks against each other.

Every now and then a pathetic spark will shoot off one but not enough to start the fire that Lance assumes Keith is so desperately trying to start.

“I’m telling you, it’s not a good idea,” Lance says snarkily. He’s hoping that the excessive use of his arms will tire Keith out eventually before he manages to get a fire going. Not that Lance is worried about that happening or anything - Keith clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s probably seen it in a movie where the actor literally smashes two rocks together twice and a roaring fire appears. In reality, it’s a lot harder than that.

Lance can’t help but feel a little bit guilty – his gun that shoots blazing hot lasers would start a fire in no time but like Lance said, it’s not a good idea.

It’s dark in the ‘cabin’ save from the stark white snow that wiped out half of it, not exactly letting light in but it’s better than being stuck in total darkness.

It’s also freezing. So cold that Lance can see his breath and can barely feel his fingers and toes, despite still wearing his spacesuit.

It stopped regulating the temperature a while ago and they both made the executive decision to power them off completely in case they really need them later.

And if they have learnt anything from past missions, it's that they _always_ need shit later.

So they’re fucking cold.

It’s probably the reason Keith is trying desperately to get a fire going.

But that’s a really stupid idea.

“Keith, buddy, I’m telling you it’s—“

“--WHY!?” Keith yells, slamming the rocks down harshly, “Why is not a good idea?! Huh? HUH!? Because the way I see it, we got two choices. Start a fire or fucking freeze to death and I know which option I’d rather choose!”

Lance lets him have his meltdown, sits with a straight face as Keith screams at him, lets him get all pent up and annoyed when really, a simple ‘Why not?’ would have sufficed. But Lance is used to Keith reacting to him in this way. In fact, he didn’t expect anything less.

“We have to conserve oxygen,” Lance replies calmly, raising his brows ironically at Keith who is panting with exertion, “If you start a fire, you’ll be giving away our oxygen supply. Because what does a fire need? That’s right. Oxygen. You know, that’s the main cause of death in an avalanche, right? It isn’t hypothermia or starvation - it’s from the lack of oxygen and breathing in carbon monoxide. So actually, we’ll suffocate to death before we ‘freeze to death’.” He says, complete with bunny ears which he knows will drive Keith up the wall. It works instantly, Keith opens his mouth, scowl already on his face but Lance holds up a finger to him, “And yes, I know what you’re thinking _‘but our suits can provide us with oxygen’._ And you’d be very right. But we only have six hours of oxygen left in our suits and I’d rather us use them as a last resort because I don’t know about you but I can’t see us getting out of here anytime soon.”

He finishes his speech and watches as Keith’s face falls in defeat.

“How do you know all this?” Keith demands, as though it is so far fetched that Lance would hold any kind of useful knowledge. Keith must think he read it on the back of a cereal box or something.

“Because unlike you, Mr Pilot Prodigy, I got into the Garrison on - shock horror - my grades,” Lance replies and doesn’t miss the blatant surprise on Keith’s face, “What, surprised? Yeah, I get it. I’m the dumb one.”

“Lance, that’s not—“

“--No. It’s fine. I know what you all think of me.”

It hurts Lance to know that he’s been tarnished with the idiot stick. Just because he’s not as smart as Pidge – but come one, who is?! And just because he’s not as passionate or vocal about boring shit like Hunk is.

It’s not Lance’s fault that he’d rather die than willingly get into a conversation about his major. He’s a work hard, play hard kind of guy. He did well in school but left that shit at the door - just like he does with Voltron. He takes his missions seriously but when he's off the clock, you bet your ass he's going to have a good time!

But the rest of Team Voltron don't see it that way. They've already made up their minds about him. He’s the ‘dumb one’ because he cracks jokes and tries to keep things light.

Nobody ever listens to his ideas. Nobody ever takes him seriously. Nobody really cares.

“I’m cold,” Keith admits after a while in a much smaller voice, “Really cold.”

“I know,” Lance says, eyes falling on the ratty comforter in the corner, “Me too.”

“What are we going to do?” Keith asks and Lance can make out the subtle fear in his voice, “I thought red would have come by now – I thought that Shiro would have—“ he stops and swallows and Lance realises that Keith, the fearless red paladin is actually terrified.

He’s panting heavily, like he can’t take in enough oxygen and Lance feels bad for giving him another thing to panic about.

He didn't think Keith was afraid of anything.

The concept is so strange to Lance. They’ve had so many near-death experiences that this – god, this wouldn’t even make it into the top 5.

He’s had loaded guns pointed at his head at point-blank range; he’s been caught up in so many explosions that he barely even flinches anymore; and the amount of times, the team have all said goodbye to each other _just_ _in case_ is probably well into double figures.

It's not that Lance isn't afraid or anything...it's just that he assumes that everything will work out in the end. It always does. He knows someone or something will save them eventually.

And if they don’t?

Well, then they don’t. But Lance would rather die peacefully from oxygen deprivation than being shot, stabbed or maimed by a Galran soldier.

He realises just how morbid his outlook on life is and wonders what happened to the old Lance before an intergalactic space war hardened him.

No wonder he cracks jokes all the time.

“I have a suggestion,” he says kindly, shooting a small smile at Keith to let him know that it’s okay. It’s okay to be scared.

Keith perks up at that and Lance is taken aback by the hopeful look Keith is giving him.

“Yeah?” he asks and Lance just blinks at him for a moment, searching his face for any sign that he might just be fucking with him, because he didn’t immediately shoot him down like Lance is used to. He didn’t scowl at him or roll his eyes or ignore him altogether.

But Keith just stares back, waiting. Waiting for Lance to save the day and reveal his plan.

Lance looks over to the bed in the corner and the ratty comforter, “Yeah,” he smiles, “But you’re not going to like it.”

****TO BE CONTINUED****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooo can y'all predict which prompt is going to finish this story off? I'll give you a hint - they're both freezing AND THERE'S A BED!


	8. Day 8 - Christmas Song (Don't Let The Bells End - PART 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 8 - CHRISTMAS SONG - DON'T LET THE BELLS END (PART 1)  
> //Rated Teen and Up//
> 
> Summary: Lance is picking up some last-minute gifts in Bath and Body Works when a song comes on that reminds him of Keith.
> 
> Dynamic: Set a few years after Season 8 - Pining Keith, Oblivious Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lost #Whamageddon on Saturday. 
> 
> Fuming.
> 
> Also fun fact - I've been downloading pics from Freepik.com to use as my headings but check out ma mad photoshop skills - I made the green bauble blue!

Lance is in Bath and Body Works when he loses the game.

The familiar beat of the music kicks in before he even has a chance to react.

A total ambush.

“Fuck.” He hisses as George Michael’s voice starts crooning out _Last Christmas._

He’s got an armful of handsoap and even more in an overflowing basket at his feet, that he feebily kicks forward every so often as the line inches closer and closer to the counter.

He’s irritated. Not just because he’s lost the game, despite being so close to victory. It’s also because he feels like he was born in this line and he’s pretty sure he’s going to die in it too.

With a deep sigh, he decides to play basket Jenga and empties the rest of the bottles he’s holding into the already overflowing vessel at his feet, so he can free up his hands to send the dreaded text.

 _#Whamageddon_ he types, before adding an unhealthy amount of sad emojis and pressing send.

The reply is instant.

 _HA!_ Pidge writes and Lance can’t help but smile. _Where did it get you?_

 _Bath and Body Works_ he replies with another series of sad faces.

Pidge had lost the game on 2nd December when she stupidly trusted a popular radio station not to fuck her over. After all, the hosts had even bragged about taking part themselves!

But alas, as she was waiting at some traffic lights, sipping on her iced-coffee quite happily, it crept on and out of her speakers with no warning. 

The funniest thing about it is, she didn’t even realise until halfway through the song, as she was belting it out at the top of her voice.

_"A face of a lover with a fire in his —FUCK!"_

Lance couldn't stop laughing when she told him.

Hunk lasted a bit longer but only just. He had gone for pre-drinks before his work’s Christmas party and unfortunately, the host had a very generic and very popular Christmas playlist playing in the background. You know the sort: Bublé, Mariah, Wham. There was no escaping it, sadly.

And Lance? Well, Lance thought he had it in the bag.

There are only three days until Christmas.

THREE DAYS!

That’s all he had to get through. Then he would have been able to play it on repeat in celebration because, let’s be honest, it’s an absolute banger.

But no. He's out. He was the last man standing and he's fallen like the rest of them.

Bath and Body Works - why you do this?!

It’s the closest he’s come to winning Whamageddon in years and he doubts he’ll ever come this close again.

God fucking dammit.

He wonders if Keith has escaped the tune wherever he is or if George Michael has somehow made it across the galaxies.

He hasn’t heard from him in over three months and their last conversation was painful. Keith’s connection was terrible and they kept talking over each other because of the delay.

It was during this conversation that he broke it to Lance that it would be another five months before he would make it back to earth. And Lance had to smile and pretend his heart wasn’t breaking at the thought of not seeing him at Christmas, in his usual gaudy Christmas sweater and reindeer antler headband that Shiro always makes him wear.

But he was devastated.

Christmas won’t be the same.

Who will help him take on his niece and nephew in a snowball fight? Running helplessly around the snow-covered farm, faking their aims and ‘failing’ to dodge the blatant oncoming attacks?

Who will team up with him at Pictionary and be so bad at it that Lance loses his cool and ends up breaking the whiteboard marker in a rage?

Who will get drunk off sherry with him and crack out the karaoke machine he got for Christmas when he was ten years old, that still has the foam helmet microphones to sing Shania Twain’s _That Don’t Impress Me Much_?

Yeah, fine. There’ll be plenty of other people to do all that with.

But it won’t be the same.

They won’t be Keith.

Lance looks up to see that the line has moved forward again and goes to lock his phone, eyes lingering on the home screen photo of Keith and him at his birthday in summer, arms slung around one another. Lance grinning at the camera, Keith’s head turned towards him with a huge smile on his face.

Something has changed between them.

It’s weird.

Lance can’t really describe it but it’s...it's not how it _used_ to be.

He looks forward to the calls and visits from Keith more than he looks forward to anything else. He even has a countdown on his phone.

When he’s away, Lance finds himself thinking about him a lot. Like _all_ the time.

Wondering what he’s doing. Wondering where he is. Wondering if he thinks about him too.

Yeah. Something has definitely changed between them.

The last few notes of Wham’s _Last Christmas_ plays just as Lance is called up as next in line.

He drops the heavy basket onto the counter with an apologetic smile. There must be at least thirty items the poor sales girl is going to have to check out – including five very heavy candles that his mom and sisters insist on putting on their lists. Every. Single. Year.

He’s reaching for his wallet when the next song starts to play.

Like every other Christmas song ever made, it has a ridiculous over the top festive intro. However, what sets it apart from other Christmas song intros, with their mellow pop riffs, electronic drum beats and essential sleigh bells, is the piercing sound of an electric guitar.

Lance freezes and huffs out a surprised laugh.

It’s not a very popular Christmas song, in fact, Lance would say it’s severely underrated. But don’t tell Keith that.

It’s a song by a British rock group called, _The Darkness_ and it’s Keith’s favourite Christmas tune.

Lance rolls his eyes fondly.

_Of course, it is._

They had argued incessantly about it, six Christmases ago. Lance was making a case for Mariah and how _All I Want For Christmas Is You_ was the best Christmas song ever made and you cannot tell him different.

“Prove me wrong!” He had said cockily.

And Keith tried to.

He really did.

And Lance was expecting it - Keith never goes down without a fight, especially when it comes to Lance and their rivalry.

So Lance braced himself to hear Keith’s argument in favour of Wham’s _Last Christmas_ or Band Aid’s _Do They Know It’s Christmas_ or even the fucking Jackson 5’s _Rockin’ Robin._

But no.

Keith, with a completely straight face, had said, “The Darkness, _Don’t Let The Bells End.”_

At first, Lance thought he might have hit his head and was speaking in tongues, because he’s pretty sure no Christmas song was allowed to have the word ‘bellend’ in it.

But then Keith had made a massive song and dance about the whole thing, about how he couldn’t believe that Lance had never heard of it and how he was going to educate him right that fucking second.

A laptop was whipped out, Youtube hastily typed wrong on three attempts before getting it right, and then Lance was watching the video and hearing the electric guitar blast out the intro for the very first time.

And yeah – it is a good song but Lance stands by the fact that it is still no match for Mariah and her iconic vocals and insanely catchy tune.

But still, they carried on arguing about it throughout the Christmas break and now, whenever Lance hears either of the songs, he automatically thinks of Keith.

He might have even added the stupid emo Christmas song to his playlist too but that's between him and Spotify.

Lance whips out his phone again whilst the cashier is attempting to scan his massive haul and starts typing out a message. He knows Keith won’t get it until February when he’s next on earth but Lance doesn’t really care.

 _I’m in Bath and Body Works and they’re playing your song,_ he types, grinning from ear to ear, _Your emo Christmas song._

He presses send and thinks about Keith getting it. Will it make him smile?

He hopes so.

He glances up to see that the cashier is about halfway through his items, letting Lance know he has enough time to scroll up and re-read the last message he got from Keith and dwell on it all over again.

_I’ll see you soon._

That was five months ago. When he left for another mission.

Lance smiles sadly and starts typing out a message he knows he’ll never send.

 _I asked the cashier what she thought was the best ever Christmas song_ – he lies – _and you’ll never guess what she said._

_I’ll give you a hint, it isn’t bellends._

_It’s something that I really want for Christmas._

_It’s you._

He deletes it as soon as he finishes it. It’s a secret that he’s kept for more than a few years. A feeling that's been growing long before Lance recognised it for what it was. It’s something that he—

“--Sir?”

Lance blinks and looks up at the cashier who is fixing him with an expectant stare.

“I said your total comes to $197.83.”

“Sorry, I was miles away,” Lance says with an apologetic smile and a small shake of his head.

He doesn't even register the insane amount he has just spent on fucking soap and candles because he's still thinking...he's always thinking...

About him.

In a moment of madness and before he can talk himself out of doing it, Lance types one final message out.

_I miss you._

He presses send.

****TO BE CONTINUED****

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you are interested and haven't heard the song I'm referring to (it's kind of well known in the UK but I don't know about anywhere else), you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I54u4-lPdgg
> 
> It would definitely be Keith's favourite Christmas song - tell me I'm wrong!
> 
> There's only one other part to this and it will be fluff. PURE FLUFF I tells ya.


	9. Day 9 - Decorating (Deck The Halls)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 9 - DECORATING - DECK THE HALLS  
> //Rated Mature//
> 
> Keith has an unfortunate accident when he and Lance are decorating their apartment for Christmas.
> 
> Lance blows a funny fuse.

It’s not funny but it is.

It’s one of those things you know you shouldn’t laugh at but you can’t help it because it’s really fucking funny, and the more you try not to laugh about it, the funnier it gets.

It’s a tears streaming down your face kind of funny.

A face contorted in a manic grin but no sound coming out kind of funny.

An all-encompassing can’t breathe, stomach hurts, kind of funny.

Lance even peed a little bit.

“It’s not fucking funny, Lance!”

But it is, Lance thinks.

 _Oh,_ it is.

Lance looks away again and desperately tries to get a hold of himself because Keith is fuming and Lance knows he is moments away from getting up and storming out, which would be a really bad idea, as they are currently sat in the ER, waiting for Keith to be called for an X-Ray.

His arm is definitely broken, Lance thinks, and then the mental image of how Keith broke his arm returns and Lance’s face collapses once again.

He pretends to be interested in the water cooler on the other side of the room so that Keith won’t see him laughing but he’s silently shaking (he can’t help it) which is making the seat vibrate and then Keith is turning to him and--

“You know what, fuck this!” Keith declares hotly, rising from his seat suddenly and hissing in pain.

“Wait! Wait! I’m sorry!” Lance pleads, grabbing onto his good arm and desperately trying to wipe the smirk off his face.

Keith scowls at him but reluctantly sits back down and Lance tries to think of anything else other than the incident.

Oh, god.

The incident.

All at once the image comes flooding back and Lance grits his teeth to stop an oncoming cackle from escaping out of his mouth.

Keith slipped whilst they were decorating their apartment for Christmas.

Keith slipped and brought the tree down with him.

Keith slipped on lube.

If he hadn’t been naked at the time, Lance might have been able to pull himself together and not find it as hysterical as he does.

But Keith _was_ naked – they both were, and the image will forever be burned into Lance’s mind of Keith, in all his naked glory, with flailing arms and jellied legs and a panicked expression Lance has never ever seen him pull before, slipping, falling and grabbing onto anything to try and save himself.

But he couldn’t be saved.

The tree caved instantly and came crashing down after him, bopping him comically on the head once Keith had hit the deck, as if to add insult to injury.

Baubles went flying everywhere and Lance can’t help but think that it’s a good thing they’re both broke and could only afford plastic ones or Keith might be sat here waiting for an X-Ray AND the removal of glass bauble shards from his ass too.

It had all happened so fast. One minute Keith was upright, declaring that he was going to get a glass of water, the next minute he was lying spread eagle on the floor groaning in agony and wrapped in branches, with the tree lights conveniently draped over him, lighting him up like a sexy Christmas spectacle.

Lance just sat there as it happened, still recovering from the quickie they had just had, paralysed with hysteria.

It was the funniest thing he had ever seen in his life.

What made it even funnier was the fact that not only was ‘ _I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’_ by Wizzard, playing in the background but some of the lights had also pooled around Keith’s dick and were on that setting where every other bulb would take it in turns to flash, illuminating Keith’s flaccid cock as if it was some kind of festive attraction.

It was ridiculous and so fucking funny that Lance almost coughed up a lung from laughing.

It’s still funny.

Really fucking funny.

“How long is this going to take?” Keith asks impatiently and Lance somehow manages to suck his cheeks in to stop the spread of another oncoming grin.

“Babe, it’s Christmas. It’s their busiest time of year.”

As he says it, his eyes scan around the heaving waiting room. There are adults in various states of disrepair. Some are holding frozen peas to their heads, others are cradling their wrists or arms close to their chest. One guy is even lying selfishly across four seats, moaning every now and then. It seems like Keith isn’t the only one who had a merry mishap.

Lance wonders, however, if anyone else is here because of a sexual seasonal tryst gone wrong.

At the time, it seemed like a good idea to take a break from decorating to have a quickie. The egg nog was flowing freely and the Christmas playlist they had put on was blasting out Band Aid’s _Do They Know It’s Christmas?_

Starving African children wouldn’t normally get Lance in the mood but there was something about the way Keith was smiling and moving his hips ever so slightly to the beat, as he placed decorations onto the tree, that just did it for Lance. He stood there mesmerised, watching his usual stoic boyfriend let down all of his walls and inhibitions.

And when Keith sang Bono’s iconic line in his super sexy singing voice that he almost never uses, Lance full-on fucking swooned. It was the sexiest thing he had ever seen and heard. He practically dived on Keith, a mash of lips, hot heavy breaths and hands grabbing helplessly.

Before he knew it, their Christmas jumpers were discarded on the floor, along with the rest of their clothing, and Lance was lying naked on the sofa waiting impatiently as Keith retrieved their stash of lube that they kept inside the coffee table for moments like this.

Then Keith was burying himself deep inside of Lance, thrusting, moaning and looking so fucking sexy that Lance wondered what he had done to deserve such a perfect boyfriend.

They were both a little tipsy and Lance thinks it’s because of this that Keith forgot to put the cap back on the tube of lube when he tossed it aside without another thought. He also must have stepped on it at some point during their hot and heavy session, causing the contents to come spilling out and onto their hardwood floor.

That’s the only explanation Lance can come up with.

It couldn’t have been him because he was splayed out on his back with his legs in the air and --

“We’ve already been here for two hours!” Keith huffs and yanks the empty sleeve of his hoodie back onto his shoulder with his good arm.

Lance blinks and realises he was in dangerous territory of popping a semi in public. He shifts in his seat slightly and has to think about Keith falling again to calm himself down. He masks another oncoming chuckle as a cough and rubs Keith’s good arm tenderly, not willing to risk speaking.

After the ‘incident’, Lance had dressed Keith with great difficulty. They couldn’t get a t-shirt on him for love nor money because every time Lance tried, Keith hissed in agony. So he’s sporting one of Lance’s old blue zip-up hoodies and a pair of baggy grey sweat pants which Lance had to hold open for him. His bad arm isn’t through the sleeve of the hoodie and that isn’t helping with matters at all - it is merely making Lance’s task of trying not to laugh even harder.

“Keith Kogane?”

They both look up to see a nurse with a clipboard scanning the waiting room. Lance lifts a hand to her and makes to get up, helping Keith in the process.

“What should I tell the doctor?” Keith asks as they traipse after the nurse and Lance almost loses it at the thought of Keith relaying the story to them.

“Just say you slipped on ice or something.”

Keith pulls a face, “That’s embarrassing.”

“More embarrassing than telling them that you slipped on lube?”

“Good point – oh for god’s sake, Lance. It’s not funny!”

*

Four hours later and Keith and Lance are finally leaving the hospital.

Keith is sporting a fresh, bright red cast on his right arm which is fractured in two places.

Lance wants to stop at the store on the way home to buy a sharpie so he can sign it.

“Eight fucking weeks, man.” Keith sighs and leans his head against the car window.

“Cheer up babe, it could be worse.”

“ _How?_ How could it be worse? I slipped on fucking lube and broke my arm. The Christmas Tree is fucked and I’m pretty sure I have about eight splinters in my ass.”

Lance bites his lip harshly, willing himself not to laugh. It is only with herculean effort that he manages to keep a straight face. He concentrates on turning the car on and thinking about anything else other than Keith....and his arm....and the tree...

But then the radio comes on and...

Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding him.

Without any kind of warning, Wizzard's, _I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday_ starts blaring out of the speakers and the last thing Lance sees before he collapses onto the steering wheel and dissolves into a fit of giggles is Keith’s horrified face.

“IT’S NOT FUCKING FUNNY, LANCE!”

But it is, Lance thinks.

 _Oh,_ it is.


	10. Day 10 - Surprise (Don't Let The Bells End - PART 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 10 - SURPRISE - DON'T LET THE BELLS END (PART 2)  
> //Rated Teen and Up//
> 
> Summary: It's Lance job to answer the door which would be fine if the doorbell wasn't popping off every five fucking minutes. It's not like he's helping his mom with dinner or anything or is currently in a state of depression because the boy he has realised he's in love with is halfway across the galaxy.
> 
> Dynamic: Set a few years after Season 8 - Pining Keith, Oblivious Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god - I'm a third of the way there.
> 
> Can you Adam and Eve it? (Believe it).
> 
> No, me neither.
> 
> Rest assured, that if I miss a day, it will definitely get published at some point.

[ **PART 1** ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27815980/chapters/68472668)

It’s the night before Christmas and all through the house. No creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Bullshit.

It might be the night before Christmas but Lance’s house is as chaotic as it always is. Maybe even more so due to the extra family and friends that have packed into the usually large but now seemingly tiny farmhouse.

There are no seats left. If you managed to get one, you know not to get up. Kids and the younger members of the family have been relegated to the floor, to sit on the carpet, maybe on a cushion if one of the adults is feeling generous.

Lance is in the kitchen with his mom and twin sister, Rachel, preparing the annual Christmas Eve feast, which is just like Christmas Dinner, only instead of turkey and ham, they’re serving chicken. A lot of chicken.

“Lance, can you get the door?” His mom asks for the fiftieth time that day. It’s not like he is currently mixing cake batter or is in a state of depression because it's finally dawned on him that he may be in love with his best friend who just so happens to be halfway across the galaxy.

But yeah, sure. Ask him to get the door why don't you?

“I _always_ get the door.”

God, it’s annoying.

He always has to answer the door because he’s the youngest. By three minutes, mind you. And god forbid, Rachel, get up off her ass for once in her fucking life. He wouldn’t want her to hurt herself.

The look his mom gives him tells him that it’s not up for discussion. So he rolls his eyes, puts down the whisk he’s holding and traipses to the door, plastering on a grin before swinging it open.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” gets screamed at him by four people and then he’s being tackled into a double bear hug by Hunk and Pidge, as Shay and Matt look on with fondness.

“Why the fuck did you ring the doorbell?” Lance asks, hugging back just as tightly.

He tells them to make themselves at home and wishes them luck finding a place to sit, then he heads back into the kitchen to carry on with his second job.

“Lance, can you get that?”

He sighs and stops peeling the potatoes.

“Lance, do you mind?”

He plasters on a smile and shuts the oven door.

“Lance, honey—“

“—Yeah, mom. _I got it._ ”

He kind of wishes he was wearing a Fitbit or something, to see how many steps he’s done today. It must be a gazillion at least. He’s already exhausted and the night is still young. They haven’t even eaten yet and there’s still a whole evening of socialising to look forward to. Not that he's in the mood.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Comes the cheer from Shiro and Adam, a bottle of expensive wine in hand. Keith would usually be with them and Lance tries not to dwell on that fact, beckoning them in with a warm smile.

“Why are you even ringing the doorbell, just come inside!” He scolds. His friends are practically family at this point and it doesn’t make sense to Lance for anyone other than total strangers or delivery men to ring the doorbell. No one would bat an eye if people walked straight in, “God, you know this by now. You’re so freaking polite!”

He accepts hugs from both of them, takes the wine and directs them into the lounge, which is now standing room only.

Then he’s back in the too-hot to handle kitchen and mashing a fuck load of boiled potatoes – enough to feed a small army.

He’s taking a piss when the doorbell next rings and announces as such when his mom calls out to him expectantly, “I’m taking a piss!” He yells and immediately gets screamed at for his use of language.

Afterwards, he heads straight back into the humid kitchen, to start taking the food, which is _finally_ ready to be served, into the dining room.

Rachel eyes him warily as he approaches a dish, “Have you washed your hands?” She demands and he really doesn’t appreciate the accusation in her tone of voice. He didn't just spend the best part of $200 at Bath and Body Works _not_ to indulge himself in the Cherry Merlot hand soap, thank you very much.

“No,” he delivers as sarcastically as possible, “I thought the parsnips could use a hint of dick!”

He lunges at her with outstretched arms, waggling his fingers in her face.

She recoils in disgust, batting him away, “Ewww, Lance! Gross!”

“Well, don’t ask stupid questions!” He grins, still trying to touch her face.

“MOM!”

“Alright you two, that’s enough!” His mother scolds, giving them the same look she did when they were kids, “You wouldn’t think you were both 27 with the way you act! Lance, start taking the dishes into the dining room. Rachel, wipe down the counters.”

They both sigh and huff out a ‘fine’ as if they were back to being petulant teenagers again. Lance puts on the ridiculous Christmas oven mitts, grabs the huge dish of parsnips and heads out of the humid kitchen, relieved to escape. He has to go out backwards, using his ass to push open the door and then he turns into the cool hallway, sighing in relief and—

He freezes and nearly drops the parsnips.

Because standing at the end of the hallway is Keith.

Keith Kogane.

Here…in person.

Not a pixelated image.

Flesh and bone.

Back on earth despite telling him he wouldn’t be, in his usual gaudy Christmas jumper and reindeer antler headband.

“Surprise,” Keith says. And Lance just stares back in complete shock, taking him in.

“You’re here.” He manages to say after what feels like three years have passed.

“I am.”

“But you said—“

“--I know.”

Lance is still wearing the ridiculous Christmas oven mitts and holding onto the fucking parsnips. He really wishes he wasn’t because he wants to touch Keith – he _needs_ to touch him.

“I got your message.”

Lance takes in a sharp breath and feels himself growing warm as embarrassment consumes him, remembering his impulsive decision to admit to Keith that he missed him - a statement that clearly meant so much more.

Fuck. He hoped that would be a problem for February Lance.

“I missed you too,” Keith admits and Lance wants to cry.

At that moment his mom comes bursting out of the kitchen, a dish of mashed potatoes in hand and Lance stumbles forward as the door whacks him.

“Lance why are you standing behind the door!?” She scolds, “And why haven’t you taken the parsnips into the dining room? Come on! There's lots more to put out! What are you doing?!”

Lance wants to die. He can actually feel the flush in his cheeks and knows he will resemble a tomato. Why is it that parents have a knack for humiliating you no matter what age you are?

“Keith, darling, do you mind?” His mom nods her head towards the kitchen, and Lance realises that she probably answered the door when he was busy taking a piss, which is why she isn’t shocked to see him standing there.

“No problem, Mrs McClain,” Keith smiles and starts walking towards Lance – _obviously_ to the kitchen but Lance almost has a heart attack all the same.

Keith winks at him as he passes, a small smirk on his face.

And Lance swears he melts into a puddle – how he has managed to keep hold of the now (probably cold) parsnips he doesn’t know--

“--LANCE! NOW!”

*

They don’t get to talk until after dinner. It’s too chaotic and there are too many people asking Keith questions for them to have an uninterrupted moment to themselves.

Lance keeps staring at him though and he’s pretty sure Keith is aware of it.

Every now and then, Keith will catch his eye and Lance will look away, heart hammering inside his chest, pretending to know what his Uncle Hector is going on about.

After dinner, everyone retreats back into the lounge for wine and cheese.

They sit on opposite sides of the room, not intentionally but the mad dash after dinner to claim a seat turned everyone a little crazy.

Keith didn’t get a seat and is currently perched on the arm of a sofa near the door, laughing at something Adam is saying to him.

Lance is sat with Hunk and Shay, listening to their wedding plans – although, he’s not _really_ listening.

There’s this itch under his skin, it’s been there ever since he laid eyes on Keith in the hallway.

He wants to talk to him. Needs to talk to him.

He hears the sound of Keith laughing again and can’t help himself from looking. But this time, Keith is looking right back.

They lock eyes. Keith smiles and subtly tilts his head toward the door.

An invitation.

The moment Lance has been waiting for.

He watches as Keith excuses himself to Adam and Shiro, then he leaves the room and Lance blinks, once, twice –“

“--My grandparents got married there and so did my parents – so it’s kind of a tradition,” Shay smiles, beaming from ear to ear.

Lance has absolutely no idea what she’s talking about.

“I have to pee,” he blurts out eloquently and Shay’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Oh - ok, sure,” she says kindly but Lance is up and out of his seat before she’s finished responding to him.

He doesn’t even mind that Rachel is already sitting down in his spot with an ‘ _On your feet, lose your seat!’_ quip, because, in his mind, he’s already with Keith.

He finds him outside on the porch, sitting on the love seat. It’s absolutely freezing so Lance makes sure to grab his coat on the way out, yanking it on and zipping it up to his chin.

“Why did I know you’d be out here?” he says with more fondness than he was prepared for.

Keith hates large crowds. He tolerates them at best for the sake of events like Christmas and birthdays. But he prefers to be alone or with a very small group of people. He’s probably really overwhelmed. 

“Because you know me,” Keith smiles – and isn’t that a punch to the gut?

Lance feels his cheeks grow warm again and begs his body not to give him away.

He sits down next to Keith on the love seat that Keith is gently swaying with the aid of his feet. There’s a small gap between them because Lance doesn't trust himself.

“You could have told me you were coming home,” he says, staring out across the farm. Snow is falling softly from the pitch-black sky, adding a fresh new layer to the footprint-covered snow that lays on the ground. Lance thinks about the snowball fight they will no doubt have tomorrow and is so grateful that Keith will be here for it.

“And miss that fantastic reaction?”

“Shut up.”

Keith chuckles.

“I thought you said you couldn’t make it.”

“Yeah, well.”

“Well, what?”

“I wanted to come back and see everybody,” Keith says softly turning to look at him, “To see you.”

Lance continues to stare straight ahead, unable to look at him. He knows this moment has been coming for a while now. Perhaps even for years.

“Why?”

“You know why, Lance.”

Lance's heart is thrumming wildly in his chest and his mouth has gone dry.

This is it.

There's no turning back.

“Yeah, I do," he says turning his head and finally meeting Keith's eyes.

The smile that breaks across Keith's face is blinding and Lance wonders when he became so beautiful.

“Took you long enough," Keith says, then he’s leaning in slowly and Lance is leaning in to meet him. Their lips are almost touching and Lance’s eyes are fluttering shut and —

The front door bursts open.

“There you both are!” His sister Veronica announces loudly and Keith and Lance jerk apart violently. “Come on, we’re about to play Pictionary!”

She’s gone as quickly as she arrived, oblivious to the moment she just shattered.

For the second time that night, Lance wishes he had a different family.

“Fancy being on my team?” He asks in an attempt to break the awkward atmosphere. He sheepishly looks over, back at Keith and is relieved to see that his cheeks have turned a nice pink too. It’s good to know he’s not the only one who’s embarrassed.

“Do you even have to ask?” Keith says with a smirk.

Lance desperately wants to get back the moment they just had but he doesn’t know how to. So instead, he jumps to his feet and makes his way back inside.

“Just don’t throw the marker at me, this time,” Keith pleads, following him into the house.

“Well don’t be bad at Pictionary and I won’t have to!”

“I’m not bad! You just can’t draw!”

“I can draw! It’s not my fault you’ve seen about three movies in your whole life.”

“You drew a snake with legs for Jurassic Park – a fucking snake with legs! How was I supposed to get that!?”

“I think you’ll find it was a Brachiosaurus you uneducated fuck—“

“--Will you two come on!” Veronica yells as Lance and Keith continue to bicker beside the coat rack. “Jesus, you’re like an old married couple!”

They both stop to look at her before turning back to each other.

“Oh god, we are, aren’t we?” Lance says horrified.

Keith bites back a smirk and nods.

They start towards the lounge but stop when they hear their own names coming from inside.

"Where are Keith and Lance?" a voice asks.

"Probably kissing somewhere," Another voice says.

"Well, they were but they're coming now," Veronica confirms.

Lance's mouth falls open comically, “Do they _all_ know?” he asks desperately and Keith nods again.

“I think the only one who didn’t was you, Lance.”

“Oh.”

Keith smiles and before Lance can even react, leans in and plants a kiss on his lips. He pulls away quickly, leaving Lance in a catatonic state.

“Merry Christmas, Lance.” He smirks and Lance blinks dumbly watching him retreat into the lounge.

*

After losing badly at Pictionary, they crack out Lance’s karaoke machine that he got when he was ten years old and that still has the foam-headed microphones, singing Shania Twain’s _That Don’t Impress Me Much_ together.

The next day they have three snowball fights with his niece and nephew and make snow angels until they’re so cold that they have no choice but to retreat inside.

It’s the same as it always is every year, the only difference now is that Lance and Keith are finally together.

That and the kissing. There’s _a lot_ of kissing.

God, he wishes he had sent that text sooner.


	11. Day 11 - Comfy (Love, Actually)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY 11 - COMFY (LOVE, ACTUALLY)
> 
> Rated Teen
> 
> Summary: Best friends and roommates Keith and Lance are enjoying that in-between time during Christmas and New Year where you don't know what fucking day it is and time has lost all meaning. They are wearing their PJs for the third day in a row and binge-watching the awful Christmas TV. Today's offering is Keith's most hated film, Love Actually, and Lance just hopes Keith falls asleep before Keira Knightley's face pisses him off to the point of no return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, I'm behind but I WILL catch up.
> 
> I'm sorry.
> 
> In my defence, I went away for the weekend and forgot to take my laptop.
> 
> Plus, I was visiting Shanghai Disneyland so....sorry but you know, not sorry.

Lance loves this.

This being the time of year between Christmas and New Years Eve when you don’t know what fucking day it is, time has lost all meaning and your diet consists of what’s left from the tubs of chocolates that you bought in bulk, and cheese. So much cheese.

They ran out of the good booze a day ago – wait, was it a day ago? Maybe two days or three?

Shit, when was Christmas again? Who knows? The point is that they….um…..they…um…Fuck. What was the point again?

Oh yeah! The point is, they’re out of the good booze and down to the shit that everyone buys at Christmas but only ever drinks as a last resort, when the Buck’s Fizz, Prosecco and Craft Beers have all perished.

They’ve got three choices: Baileys, Sherry or Port.

Keith got the Baileys as a Secret Santa gift, which is ironic considering he is lactose intolerant. They literally could have chosen _any_ other alcohol to get him.

The other two were gifted to them by Lance’s mom, who made sure they went home with enough food and alcohol to see them through to the New Year. And let’s be honest – free alcohol is…well, free alcohol.

Keith’s chosen the sherry. He has a sweet tooth and likes his alcohol to be like diabetic soup so it is right up his street.

He’s declared more than once that it’s his new favourite tipple and Lance doesn’t know whether or not to believe him or if it’s just the half bottle that he’s already drunk, doing the talking for him.

Lance chose the Baileys which wasn’t a smart idea. It’s heavy. Creamy and heavy, and when you’ve eaten your weight in cheese and chocolates, you really don’t need that sitting on top of you too. But it’s fine. He’s full and tipsy – the kind of feeling where everything is all right with the world.

They’ve got their PJs on, cracked out the blankets and are lying on twin sofas, watching TV which is still providing them with festive fun despite Christmas happening three?…No…Four? Yeah. Four days ago.

Lance is pretty sure it’s a Tuesday but honestly, if a gun was put to his head to confirm it, he’d have to tell you to pull the trigger. Because he doesn’t know.

He really doesn’t know.

All he knows is that he’s comfy. 

Comfy, tipsy and full and not back at work until January 2nd when he’ll no doubt want to kill himself.

So he’s going to enjoy this.

He’s going to enjoy lazing on the sofa, drinking Irish cream, eating cheese and chocolates and watching whatever drivel is put on TV by the BBC.

Today’s offering is _Love Actually._

“No.” Keith says immediately as the announcer lets them know that they have almost two hours of Colin Firth, Kiera Knightly and Hugh Grant to look forward to.

“No.” he says again but makes absolutely no move to reach for the TV remote which sits inches away from him in the centre of the coffee table but may as well be in Fiji.

“Awww but I love _Love Actually!”_ Lance protests, unwrapping another chocolate from the tub he conveniently put within grabbing distance on the floor and popping it into his mouth.

“It’s terrible,” Keith slurs with a groan, pulling the blanket over his face.

There are many things Keith hates in life. Too many for Lance to actually name because he’d be here until next Christmas if he tried.

In fact, it would probably be easier to list all the things that Keith likes in life instead because there’s…well….not many. He hates most things, including Tom Hanks – and _who the fuck hates Tom Hanks!?_

Keith.

Keith does.

And why does he hate Tom Hanks, Lance hears you cry? ‘ _Because he tries too hard to be liked’,_ according to Keith.

But out of all the things Keith hates, ridiculous, over the top, moronic romcoms would definitely make his Top 5. Which is a real shame because Lance would put them in his Top 5 favourite things.

It’s caused many an argument on movie nights and usually, Keith gets his own way because the alternative is hearing him pick apart the plot of the movie and point out all the ridiculous elements that would never actually happen in real life.

And nothing depresses Lance more than knowing that romance is well and truly dead and that his matches on Tinder will never compare to the storybook romances he dreams of.

But this is different because Lance hasn’t chosen the movie – the BBC has. And Keith is drunk, lost in the sauce, minutes away from falling into a drunken stupor.

If Lance is lucky, he’ll be fast asleep before Keira Knightley utters the cringe-inducing phrase, _‘I look quite pretty_ ,’ and not have to suffer through Keith’s well-rehearsed speech about how ‘fucking stupid’ the film really is.

 _“Of course, she looks pretty! It was her fucking wedding day!”_ Keith screamed the last time they had watched it and Lance rolled his eyes and did his best to tune him out.

“No!” Keith protests for a final time as the opening credits begin – but still makes no attempt to do anything about it.

Lance counts it as a win.

The film starts and Keith begins with his usual hate commentary but Lance can tell it’s half-hearted at best. Instead of his usual well-thought-out points, he’s giving one-word insults such as ‘stupid’, ‘ridiculous’ and ‘pathetic’, and scoffing…a lot.

Lance both blames and thanks the sherry.

They manage to make it through the first half of the film with minimal hatred on Keith’s part. His insults are getting less and less frequent and Lance really hopes that he’ll be asleep before the _really_ ridiculous plots occur, so that he can enjoy the wonderfully absurd piece of shit film in peace.

Because, yes. Lance is fully aware of just how bad _Love Actually_ is. But does he care?

No. No, he does not.

It’s an escape to him. To believe that there are people in the world who make over the top romantic gestures, like running through an airport and making it past security without being gunned down, just to tell the girl you are in love with how you feel about her.

Or diving into a lake after your sexy housekeeper who is desperately trying to save your ruined manuscript. And telling her that it’s all right. It’s not her fault. Yes, it was your only copy, and yes, you did do it on a typewriter, not a computer. And yes, it is a year’s worth of work down the drain but fuck it, you’re sexy and I fancy you and let’s fuck in this lake.

Or even, being totally, inexcusably in love with someone that you know you can’t have because they are married to your best friend. And so you keep your love for them a secret, knowing you will never be able to do anything about it. But somehow, they find out and no, they don’t feel the same. But it’s ok…because you knew they wouldn’t. But now they know, so you do the only thing you can, you explain why, using multiple cardboard signs.

You tell them that they’re perfect and that you love them and that your wasted heart will go on loving them… but it’s okay because you want them to be happy and—

“—So f’kin stupid,” Keith slurs, just as the scene with said cardboard signs begins, “How'd he know, she’d answer t'door? What if his friend did?”

Lance has tears in his eyes from how sad and beautiful he finds the moment. Of course, Keith would ruin it. He reaches over and grabs the remote from the coffee table and jabs the pause button.

“How dare you,” he declares, sniffing and wiping at his tears with his pyjama sleeve, “Can you even imagine what that’s like?!”

“Mm?” Keith asks and Lance really shouldn’t indulge him – he’s nearly asleep after all, and once he is, Lance fully intends to rewind the film to watch all over again anyway. But he can’t resist. He can’t resist biting back.

“Can you imagine being in love with someone and not being able to have them?” He asks, fully expecting Keith to come back with a ‘ _for god’s sake, Lance – it’s not real_ ’ or another variant of an insult which discredits Lance’s love of romance.

“Mm-hmm,” Keith nods sleepily and Lance blinks, not exactly expecting that response from his best friend slash roommate who he thought he knew everything about.

“What? No, you can’t!” Lance scoffs. _As if_ Keith knows what that’s like. The guy has been on two dates in his entire life and only because Lance and Keith’s brother Shiro forced him to. He’s never shown an interest in, well, anyone.

“I can,” Keith mumbles.

“Can you fuck! Imagine – just _imagine,_ being so in love with someone and seeing them all the time but knowing that you can never have them and you can’t ever tell them how you feel because if you do, you’ll ruin everything.”

“I don’t …” Keith slurs into his pillow and Lance doesn’t catch the rest of his words.

“What?”

“Said I don’t hav’to imagine it.”

Lance is silent for a few moments, digesting what Keith has just said to him. Does he – is there someone that Keith actually likes?

_Loves even?_

He wracks his brain to think about the people Keith interacts with. No one really stands out. He’s never mentioned anyone at work and their friendship group consists of three married couples (one of which is his brother and his husband) and girls…and Keith is gay.

He can’t be in love with Hunk, surely? Or Adam, because Adam practically raised him… and Matt? Well, Matt could be a contender but he moved to Wisconson with his wife three years ago and they only ever see him on special occasions.

The only other person that leaves is…well…Lance and that's just... no, definitely not. Like Lance would know if Keith was in love with him...right?

“Do you…do you like someone?” Lance asks tentatively, but Keith’s eyes are now fully closed and he’s inhaling deeply and slowly, letting Lance know that sleep is taking him.

“Course I do,” he murmurs and Lance desperately tries to cling onto the last slivers of Keith’s consciousness.

“Who?”

Keith smiles sleepily, "Can't tell you."

“Why not?” Lance asks rather desperately.

“Cos,” Keith breathes dreamily as if that explains fucking anything.

“Because why?” Lance demands in a louder voice, hoping that the volume will shake Keith awake.

“Cos, it’ll ruin everything,” Keith sighs and Lance stills.

If he was in love with Hunk and told him, it wouldn’t ruin anything because Hunk would understand and let Keith down gently, and then go on as if nothing happened. If he was in love with Adam, yes it would be tremendously awkward and weird, but Adam would just tease him mercilessly and nothing else would change. And if he was in love with Matt? Well, he can't be...they never see him! It wouldn't change or ruin anything.

But Lance? If it was Lance Keith was in love with…well, that would change just about everything.

“Who?” Lance asks again because he _needs_ to know. His heart is beating wildly in his chest and he doesn’t know if he’s excited to find out who Keith likes or anxious…or both. But one thing’s for certain, he needs to know. Right this fucking second. “Keith, who!?” he begs again but it’s no use.

Because Keith is already fast asleep.

So Lance reluctantly turns his head back to the screen and presses play, and watches Andrew Lincoln's character confess to Keira Knightley's with the aid of cardboard signs, as a recorded Christmas Carol plays in the background - a ridiculous over the top romantic gesture that nobody asked for.

He wonders if he'll ever get to experience a moment like it.

He wonders how he would react to the confession.

And he wonders what it would be like coming from Keith.

It scares him how much he doesn't hate the idea.

******************

If you /haven't/ seen Love Actually (...and really, good going if you've managed to avoid it for this long), this is the scene I am referencing:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyN9E08vFSY&vl=en](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyN9E08vFSY&vl=en)

It is so fucking ridiculous and over the top but can you just imagine Lance being married to Allura and finding out Keith is in love with him and Keith doesn't know what to do, so just fucking bolts but then turns up on Lance's doorsteps with these cards!? Can you imagine!?

  
This is the full scene with the characters from the wedding, to the finding out, to the confession:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTDr3STHLLA>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also...I'm back on Twitter, so feel free to stop by and say 'Hey!'.

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: @Guestsnobags - please be kind. I'm too sensitive for any negativity.


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